A Transdiagnostic Comparison of Mindfulness and Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children With Autism, Developmental Delay, and Fragile X Syndrome.
Mindful parenting barely softens daily hassles for autism moms, so add skill-based training to your parent support plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 243 moms to fill out three short forms. Each mom had one child with autism, developmental delay, or Fragile X.
The forms measured trait mindfulness, mindful parenting, and daily parenting hassles. No one got an intervention; it was a one-time survey.
What they found
All three groups scored the same on trait mindfulness and daily hassles.
FXS moms scored highest on mindful parenting. Yet for autism moms, mindful parenting barely softened daily hassles.
How this fits with other research
Dai et al. (2025) extends this picture. Their hospital-home DTT program cut parenting stress for autism moms in half. The survey shows the need; the RCT shows a fix.
Shepherd et al. (2018) found advocacy tasks stress autism parents most. R et al. add that even when these moms try to stay mindful, the buffer is weak.
Fahmie et al. (2013) taught mindfulness to high-functioning adults with autism and saw mood gains. R et al. flip the lens: when the child has autism, mom’s own mindful parenting helps less than it does for DD or FXS moms.
Why it matters
If you coach autism families, don’t assume mindful parenting alone will lower stress. Pair mindfulness tools with skill-based parent training like DTT. Check if advocacy tasks are eating up the mom’s bandwidth, and give concrete scripts or systems instead of more breathing exercises.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study compared mindfulness and parenting daily hassles (PDH) among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental delay (DD), and Fragile X syndrome (FXS), and explored diagnostic group as a moderator of the relationship between mindfulness and PDH. Mothers of children with ASD (n = 166), DD (n = 113), and FXS (n = 74) completed measures of PDH, trait mindfulness, and mindful parenting. Mothers reported comparable levels of trait mindfulness and PDH, but the FXS group (versus ASD and DD) reported higher levels of mindful parenting. The mindful parenting/PDH relationship was negative for all groups but weaker for mothers of children with ASD (versus DD and FXS). Implications for research and practice are discussed.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-130.4.249