The mediating role of social support in the relationship between social isolation and life satisfaction in families with and without children with special needs

Objectives: The present study aims to examine the relationships between social isolation, social support, and life satisfaction in parents with and without children with special needs. Methods: The data for this study were obtained from 422 parents with children. Of the participants, 266 (63.0%) were mothers, and 156 (37.0%) were fathers, with an average age of 39.43 (SD = 7.62; range = 22–65). Convenience sampling was used in this study. When examining the marital status distribution, 386 participants (91.5%) were married, and 36 (8.5%) were single. Furthermore, 203 parents (48.1%) stated that they had a child with special needs, while 219 (51.9%) stated that they did not have a child with special needs. Results: The correlation analysis revealed that all variables are related to each other. Furthermore, structural equation modeling results showed that social support plays a mediating role in the relationship between social isolation and life satisfaction. Conclusions: This research evaluates parents with and without disabled children in terms of social isolation, social support, and life satisfaction, and indicates that social support is significantly more important for parents with disabled children compared to those without.