Examination of the levels of perceived spousal support and marital satisfaction of parents who have normally developed children and who have children with special needs

In this study aimed to examine and comparing the perceived spousal support and marital satisfaction levels of parents who have children with special needs and normally developed children. There are 390 persons in total of which 209 parents have children with special needs and 181 parents have children with normally developed. In order to collect data 'Demographic Information Form' prepared by the researcher and 'Spousal Support Scale' and 'Marital Life Scale' were used. SPSS-22 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) program was used for statistical analysis of the data obtained in the study. As a result of the research; a significant difference was found between the perceived spousal subscales of parents with normal developmental children and gender, age, occupation and way of marriage. It was seen that only the educational level variable predicted the marital satisfaction of the parents with normal developing children. A significant difference was found between the perceived spousal subscales of the parents with children with special needs and gender, level of income, duration of flirtation and way of marriage. A significant difference was found between the marital satisfaction of the parents with special needs and gender, age and way of marriage. It was seen that the diagnosis of the child did not make a significant difference in the perceived parental support and marital satisfaction. Perceived spousal support and marital satisfaction levels of parents with normal developing children are higher than parents with special needs children. Marital satisfaction was found to increase with perceived spouse support in parents with normal development and special needs children.