Dyadic Effect of Coping on the Perceived Impact of ASD of Children on Parental Quality of Life: Report from the ELENA Cohort.

Brillet et al. (2023) asked both moms and dads in the ELENA cohort about the coping styles they use and how they rate their own quality of life.

The team used a partner-analysis model. This let them see if one parent's coping also shapes the other parent's well-being.

When a mother used more emotion-focused coping, both her own and the father's quality of life went up.

The same link did not show up the other way; Dad's coping helped only himself.

García-López et al. (2016) saw the same dyadic pattern earlier: supportive coping between partners lifted relationship satisfaction and parental adaptation.

Ang et al. (2019) also found gendered coping effects, but they flagged fathers as the more stress-vulnerable parent. The ELENA data flip that spotlight onto mothers as the emotional driver.

De Laet et al. (2025) stretched the coping-benefit link further, showing positive coping still protects caregivers even when the child is an adult with high externalizing behaviors.

You already teach coping skills to stressed parents. This paper says start with Mom first—her gains spill over to Dad. Add joint sessions so both parents practice emotion-focused coping together. A quick five-minute mood check with Mom could lift the whole household.