Publication year
2016
Citation Title
The impact of maternal, child, and family characteristics on the daily well-being and parenting experiences of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder
Journal Name
Autism
Journal Volume
20
Issue Number
8
Page Numbers
973-985
DOI
10.1177/1362361315620409
Summary
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) encounter unique stressors and challenges in everyday life. In this study, researchers investigated parent, child, and family characteristics as predictors of daily parent-child interactions and maternal emotions. Parent, child, and family characteristics predicted parent-child interactions, while child and parent characteristics predicted maternal emotions.
Key Findings
In families that had greater family cohesion, mothers reported more positive parent-child interactions.
Frustrating parent-child interactions were more frequent in families characterized by greater rigidity.
Mothers who reported more symptoms of depression also reported more frustrating parent-child interactions and experiences of negative emotions and fewer experiences of positive emotions.
Greater child ASD symptom severity predicted higher levels of positive emotions for mothers.
Implications for Military Professionals
Talk with military-affiliated parents of children with special needs to find out what type of support is most helpful for them
Include children from military families who have special needs in a variety of activities, both with their parents and on their own
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer workshops for parents of children with special needs to enhance communication skills in order to increase family cohesion
Develop activities for military families with children with special needs that provide an opportunity for positive parent-child interactions
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support the development of programs to strengthen military families that include individuals with special needs
Encourage programs to focus on helping military families develop cohesion and flexibility
Methods
Participants were recruited through local organizations serving individuals with ASD and through national blogs focused on ASD.
Mothers completed initial measures of maternal depressive symptoms, child ASD symptom severity, and family functioning as well as daily measures of parent emotions and parent-child interactions for two weeks.
Data were analyzed to determine the ways in which scores on initial measures predicted daily parent emotions and parent-child interactions.
Participants
Participants were 83 mothers of a child with ASD.
The average age of the children was 7.82 years (SD=2.59 years).
Mothers identified as White (90%), Latina (6%), Black (1%), Native American (1%), Asian American (1%), or another race/ethnicity (1%).
Limitations
Latina mothers were less likely to complete the daily measurements than White mothers, so the experience of Latina mothers is underrepresented in the results.
The study only included mothers of children with ASD. It is unknown how these factors relate to each other for fathers of children with ASD.
Because mothers were asked to report about parent-child interactions every day, they may have paid more attention and acted differently within those interactions than they normally would, which may have influenced results.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine the experience of fathers of children with ASD
Utilize different methods that encourage equal representation of parents of different races/ethnicities
Investigate the effect of asking parents about parent-child interactions every day for a period of time
Focus
Civilian
Population Focus
Abstract
This study utilized a daily diaries method to explore the global factors that impact daily general affect and daily parenting interactions of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Eighty-three mothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 3 and 13 years completed global assessments of maternal depressive symptoms, child autism spectrum disorder symptom severity, and family functioning. Mothers then reported on their daily negative and positive affect as well as their daily positive and frustrating parenting interactions for 14 consecutive days. The results indicated that higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were related to decreased daily positive affect, whereas greater child social motivation impairments were related to increased daily positive affect. Only maternal depressive symptoms were associated with increased daily negative affect. Furthermore, higher levels of family cohesion were related to increased daily positive parenting interactions. Finally, higher maternal depressive symptoms as well as family rigidity were related to increased daily frustrating parenting interactions. Implications for interventions focused on the family system are discussed
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