For fathers raising children with autism, do coping strategies mediate or moderate the relationship between parenting stress and quality of life?
Coping strategies don’t buffer the hit that autism-fathers’ quality of life takes from parenting stress—plan supports beyond coping skills training.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A team asked 101 dads of kids with autism to fill out three surveys. One measured parenting stress, one listed coping tricks like 'I try to see the bright side,' and one rated quality of life.
The researchers ran two stats tests. They checked if coping acts like a bridge (mediator) or a shield (moderator) between stress and life satisfaction.
What they found
None of the coping strategies helped. Stress still dragged down quality of life no matter how much dads said they coped.
The numbers were flat zero for both mediation and moderation. Coping skills training alone won’t protect these fathers.
How this fits with other research
Enav et al. (2020) saw the same blank wall in dads of kids with mild ID. Mom’s stress clearly mediated risk, but dad’s stress did not—echoing this null result.
Ljubičić et al. (2025) found autism parents dripping evening cortisol and low happiness. The biomarker data back up the survey: stress is real and untouched by self-reported coping.
McGeown et al. (2013) looks like a contradiction—their school-based parent training cut stress. The difference is action versus attitude: teaching new skills in vivo beat asking dads to ‘cope better’ on paper.
Why it matters
Stop spending sessions only teaching fathers breathing or positive self-talk. Pair those skills with concrete supports: respite nights, tele-coaching like Liao et al. (2025), or school programs that give dads real-time strategies. Target the environment, not just the mindset.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In response to the dramatic change in the perception of fatherhood and the significant expansion in fatherhood research, this study came to fill the gap in literature and examine the possible mediation and moderation effects of coping in the relationship between fathers' of children with autism parenting stress and quality of life (QoL). Mediation and moderation effects were examined using multiple programs and software which included hierarchical regression, structural equation modeling and special Macros added to the analysis programs to confirm the findings. None of the investigated coping strategies could mediate or moderate the stress-QoL relationship among the 101 participating fathers. This study provides interesting information on how the stress-coping-QoL relationship among fathers of children with autism can be affected by the nature of their stress provoking situation, their individual characteristics, the environment and its demands and resources, and the way fathers perceive and apply their coping responses.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.047