Gender and Marital Status as Correlates of Psycho-Social Well-Being of Informal Caregivers of Children with Physical Disabilities

The contribution of gender and marital status to psycho-social well-being cannot be over enzphasised. Dearth of literature on the contribution of both gender and marital status to the well-being of parents of children with physical disabilities in Nigeria informed this paper. Hence, this finding is a contribution to the understanding of the role of gender and marital factors in ensuring psycho-social well-being of informal caregivers of children with disabilities. Through quantitative method, data were collected from 812 infonnal caregivers who were accessed through their children. Ryff’s (1989) psychological well-being scale with alpha coefficient of 0.70 and a Guttman split half of 0.36 were used to measure informal caregivers’ well-being. . Results indicated that men have significantly more positive wellbeing than their women counterparts (t=-32.92, df=805, p= <.05). Also married respondents reported significantly higher level ofpsycho-social well-being than the single and divorcees. There was also no significant difference in the level of well-being of single parents and divorcees. F(2,804)= 15.67, p= <.05).The study concluded that gender and marital status have significant influence on the psycho-social well-being of caregivers of children with physical disabilities. Therefore, appropriate recommendations were made.