Associations Between Feeding Difficulties, Parental Quality of Life, and Coparenting in Turkish Families of Children With and Without Autism.
Feeding problems in Turkish autism families trigger the same stress-coparenting cascade already shown for child anxiety and stigma.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doğan et al. (2026) asked Turkish parents about mealtimes. They compared families with autistic kids to families without autism. They used surveys to link feeding problems to parent stress and teamwork between partners.
What they found
Feeding issues were worse in the autism group. When meals were hard, parents felt worse and argued more. The link was strongest for parents of autistic children.
How this fits with other research
Chan et al. (2018) first showed child autism traits raise parent depression through stress and marital conflict. Deniz extends that path: feeding difficulties now act as the child trait that starts the same stress chain.
Adams et al. (2020) found child anxiety lowers both child and parent quality of life. Deniz mirrors this but swaps anxiety for feeding issues, showing the same downward pull on parent well-being.
Yan et al. (2022) showed support cuts stress and lifts involvement. Deniz flips the coin: when feeding problems rise instead of support, stress goes up and coparenting falls.
Why it matters
If you work with autism families, ask about mealtimes. A short feeding checklist can flag parents at risk for high stress and poor coparenting. Share simple mealtime tips or refer to feeding clinics early. Easing food battles may protect both parent mental health and the couple’s teamwork.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Feeding difficulties are widely reported among children with autism, yet their broader implications for parental quality of life and coparenting remain underexplored, particularly in non-Western contexts. This study examined the associations between children’s feeding difficulties, parental quality of life, and coparenting in families of children with and without autism in Türkiye. This cross-sectional study included 125 parents in Türkiye (67 parents of children with autism; 58 parents of typically developing children) who had children aged 3–9 years. Data were collected using the Quality of Life in Autism Questionnaire (QoLA), the Coparenting Relationship Scale, and the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI). The study explored (a) group differences in feeding difficulties, parental quality of life, and coparenting, and (b) the associations among these variables within both groups. Children with autism showed higher feeding difficulties than typically developing (TD) peers (z = 2.52, p = .012, r = .23). In the autism group, feeding difficulties were negatively associated with parental quality of life (ρ = −0.43, 95% CI [− 0.61, − 0.21], p < .001) and coparenting (ρ = −0.33, 95% CI [− 0.53, − 0.10], p < .01). In the TD group, the quality of life association was weaker (ρ = −0.27, 95% CI [− 0.49, − 0.01], p < .05), and the coparenting association was not significant. Feeding difficulties may operate as stressors linked to reduced parental QoL and, in autism, to lower coparenting quality. Findings support the value of family-informed approaches to feeding challenges and warrant longitudinal and intervention research across settings.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026 · doi:10.1007/s10803-026-07284-6