Sleep Problems in Children with ASD and Mothers' Stress: the Mediating Role of Mother's Quality of Life and Moderator Role of Mother's Resilience.
A 15-item Parental Stress Scale is ready for busy clinics serving families of kids with autism or developmental delays.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Saad (2025) checked if a short 15-question Parental Stress Scale works for moms and dads of kids with autism or other developmental delays.
More than 3,000 caregivers filled out the survey. The team looked at how well the questions hang together and whether the scores make sense.
What they found
The 15-item scale held up well. It showed good internal consistency and clear validity, so clinicians can trust the scores.
In plain words: the short form is a quick, reliable way to spot high stress in parents of kids with I/DD.
How this fits with other research
Green et al. (2020) did something almost identical in France. They also trimmed a parent-stress form—21 items instead of 15—and found good reliability. Together, the two studies tell us shorter scales still catch stress accurately.
Lee et al. (2023) and Lovell et al. (2021) extend the story. They show that poor sleep is a key reason caregiver stress hurts next-day mood and physical health. So after you screen with the 15-item scale, you may want to ask about sleep.
Seymour et al. (2013) adds another layer. Fatigue, not bad coping, is what turns child behavior problems into maternal stress. This means your stress score can guide you to target fatigue and sleep, not just parenting skills.
Why it matters
You now have a 2-minute, free tool to measure caregiver strain at intake. Pair it with two quick follow-up questions about sleep and fatigue. This combo lets you write referrals for sleep hygiene, respite, or counseling before burnout deepens.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parental stress can be debilitating for parents and their families. This is particularly true for parents who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD). Effective screening and measurement of parental stress leads to accurate and effective intervention. The purpose of this study was to understand the psychometric properties of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) for families who have a child with I/DD (ages ranging from 1 to 18 years old, with a mean of 5.28). Caregivers of 3220 families who have a child with I/DD (91% diagnosed with ASD) completed the scale. The psychometric properties including internal reliability and factor structure were completed as well as discriminant validity. Results of confirmatory factor analysis with the 18-item scale revealed a poor model fit with three items not meeting minimum factor loading threshold. Given this, the three items were removed, and confirmatory factor analysis was reconducted with 15 items of the PSS. Results revealed good internal consistency and discriminant validity, as well as a good model fit with all 15 items loading above the minimum threshold. The identified two-factor structure is consistent with the dichotomous (rewarding/burdensome) construct of parental stress that Berry and Jones (J Soc Pers Relationsh 12(3):463-472, 1995) originally designed the scale to index. Thus, the 15-item PSS has initial psychometric evidence in a large sample of families with a child with I/DD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1111/fare.12306