Parental Identity Development in Emerging Adult Parents Raising Children with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

Dzielińska, Michalina; Piotrowski, Konrad

doi:10.1080/15283488.2026.2643722

Parental Identity Development in Emerging Adult Parents Raising Children with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

StatusPost-Print

Dublin Core metadata

Authors

Dzielińska, Michalina

Piotrowski, Konrad

Date

2026-03-15

Journal title

Identity

DOI

10.1080/15283488.2026.2643722

ISSN

1528-3488

Weblink

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15283488.2026.2643722

Access date

2027-03-23

Abstract EN

The present study examined the association between having a child with a disability or chronic illness and parental identity processes (commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) over one year. The study involved 1275 emerging adult parents (62.0% mothers, 38.0% fathers) aged 18–30 (M = 26.11, SD = 2.99), including 249 parents of children with disabilities or chronic illnesses. Multigroup Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was used to estimate growth trajectories (intercepts and slopes) of parental identity processes across three waves. The results showed no significant mean-level change over time in any parental identity process. At baseline, parents of children with disabilities or chronic illnesses reported significantly lower commitment and significantly higher reconsideration of commitment than parents of typically developing children, whereas the difference in in-depth exploration was not significant. These findings indicate relative stability of parental identity over one year and highlight between-group differences linked to raising a child with a disability or chronic illness.