Association between perceived social support of parents and emotional/behavioral problems in children with ASD: A chain mediation model.
Boost parent resilience and confidence first; child behavior gains ride on that chain.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents of children with autism to fill out four questionnaires.
They wanted to know if the help parents feel they have (social support) links to fewer child meltdowns or anxiety.
They tested a chain: support → parent bounce-back (resilience) → parent confidence (self-efficacy) → child behavior.
What they found
Parents who said “I have people to help me” reported stronger resilience and higher parenting confidence.
Those two boosts, in turn, predicted calmer, happier kids.
The chain fully explained the link—support alone did not skip the steps.
How this fits with other research
Lovell et al. (2012) already showed that more support lowers parent stress and even improves morning cortisol.
Miezah et al. (2020) looked similar but found no mediation—support did not move the needle. The difference: they measured parent mental health as the end point, while Minghui targeted child behavior and added the resilience/self-efficacy steps.
Fallahchai et al. (2022) extend the story by showing that when parents talk openly with partners and use support together, couple stress also drops.
Why it matters
You can’t hand a parent a support card and walk away. First, shore up their resilience—ask “What’s one thing that recharges you this week?” Next, grow specific parenting confidence—break a tough teaching step into a win they can see. When those two pieces are in place, child behavior gains follow. Build the chain, not just the first link.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Parental psychosocial factors are associated with emotional/behavioral problems in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but studies investigating their relationships are limited. AIMS: To explore the relationships between parents' perceived social support, parental resilience, parenting self-efficacy, and emotional/behavioral problems in children with ASD, and the mechanism underlying these relationships. METHOD: The participants were 289 parents of children with ASD (including fathers and mothers) in China. A survey comprising the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Resilience Scale, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was administered. RESULTS: (1) Parents' perceived social support, parental resilience, and parenting self-efficacy were significantly associated with emotional/behavioral problems in children with ASD; (2) parental resilience and parenting self-efficacy were found to play a chain-mediating role in the association between perceived social support of parents and emotional/behavioral problems in children with ASD. CONCLUSION: It is crucial to improve parents' perceived social support, parental resilience, and parenting self-efficacy to reduce emotional/behavioral problems in children with ASD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103933