This work was supported by a grant from Shalem Fund
Education for healthy sexuality continues throughout the life cycle and involves the children, parents, the education system, the electronic media and others. Despite its importance, the subject of education for healthy sexuality often causes difficulty and embarrassment among parents and educators in their dealings with teenagers, especially with teenagers with mental disabilities. The current study examined whether there is a relationship between the perception of parental competence and the caregiving system and the attitudes of mothers, for adolescents with intellectual developmental disabilities, regarding sexuality and relationships. The research findings show that the perception of parental ability was found to be related to the dimension of anxiety in the Caregiving system. and is also related to mothers’ attitudes about sexuality and relationships. The research findings did not support the hypotheses regarding the relationship between the perception of parental competence and the avoidance dimension and no relationship was found between mothers’ positions on sexuality and relationships, and the anxiety index.
Keywords: Belsky’s Ecological Model; the caregiving system; parental efficacy; sexuality; adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities; educational counseling.