Purpose: In a family with one or more exceptional children,
the parents endure severe physical and psychological stress, in
addition to the burden of care and socio-economic pressures.
Therefore, the present study examined the relationship
between socio-economic status and personality traits with
mental health of parents of more than one exceptional child
and compared their rates between mothers and fathers in Yazd.
Materials and Methods: This study was analytical and crosssectional. The population of the study included all parents with
more than one exceptional child in Yazd in 2019-2020. For
example, 160 parents with more than one exceptional child
were selected by random cluster sampling. The demographic
form, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and the
NEO–Five Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI; Costa & McCrae,
1980) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using
SPSS-21 software and correlation coefficient, independent ttest and stepwise regression with a significance level of 0.05.
Findings: The results showed that there were significant
negative relationships between socio-economic status and
personality traits of extraversion, openness to experience,
conscientiousness and agreeableness with the mental health of
parents of exceptional children. Also, there is a significant
positive relationship between neuroticism with the mental
health of the parents of exceptional children (p<0.01).
However, neuroticism (β = 0.28) and extraversion (β = -0.13)
were able to predict mental health. Also, mothers of
exceptional children had lower mental health and more
neuroticism than fathers.
Conclusion: According to the results, if the parents of more
than one exceptional child have a higher socio-economic
status and more appropriate personality traits, their mental
health will be better. So, the components of neuroticism and
extroversion personality are able to predict the level of mental
health in these parents.