Investigation of Life Satisfaction Levels of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability and Multiple Disabilities

In this study, it was aimed to examine the life satisfaction levels of the parents of children with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders and multiple disabilities in terms of various variables. Descriptive survey model was used in the researchin which the parents of 256 disabled children participated. In the study, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985), was utilized. The scale, whose validity and reliability study were conducted by Dağlı and Baysal (2016) was adapted to Turkish by the same researchers. SPSS 24 version was used for the analysis of research data. Besides, one-way ANOVA Test, Independent samples t-test and Tukey HSD Test were also employed to analyze the data in the study. According to the results of the research, while the life satisfaction level of the parents was found to be average, no significant difference was observed in terms of gender, age, the type of disability and gender of the children. As for the education level variable, a significant difference was observed in favor of university graduates when secondary school and university graduates were compared. In addition, regarding the income level, a significant difference was also observed in favor of above 6500 TL when the income level between 4501-5500 TL and over 6500 TL was compared.