Les adultes porteurs d'une déficience mentale modérée ou légère face à la sexualité de leur enfant.

Abstract

What does underlie the specific vision of parents of mentally deficient adults about their child's sexuality ' In order to answer this question, we have collated empirical studies and psychoanalytical theories. We proposed two hypotheses. First, we assumed that the child mental deficiency leads the parent to keep an idea of the relationship with his son or his daughter favouring an aspect of symbiosis and proximity rather than autonomy. Secondly, we assumed that the parent vision about sexuality is related to his/her conception of the relationship between the parent and the mentally deficient adult. The empirical part of this study consists of a survey and interviews. Hundred parents of mild or moderate mentally deficient adults answered to a written questionnaire, and five parents of moderate mentally deficient adults were interviewed twice. Results show that parents are mostly favourable to autonomy, which contradicts our first hypothesis. Parent acceptation to participate in such a research might have biased the population, which can partially explain such results. Otherwise, both the survey and the interviews show a correlation between the idea of parent-mental deficient adult relationship and the conception of sexuality. These data confirm the second hypothesis. This study allows in addition to enhance the understanding of the parents'psychological experience with their son or daughter, from the confrontation with deficiency to the adulthood of their child.

Date of Award	2004
Original language	French
Supervisor	Serban Ionescu (Supervisor)