Harrdiness and social support as predictors of stress in mothers of typical children, children with autism, and children with mental retardation.

Weiss (2002) asked three groups of moms to fill out surveys. One group had kids with autism, one had kids with intellectual disability, and one had typical kids.

The surveys measured how tough moms felt (hardiness), who they could count on (social support), and how stressed they felt. The goal was to see which traits protected moms from stress.

Hardiness and social support both predicted lower stress. Moms of autistic kids reported the highest stress, but the same two traits still helped.

Stress showed up as more depression, anxiety, body aches, and burnout when support or hardiness was low.

Hagopian et al. (2005) widened the lens to dads. They found moms’ depression spills over and raises dads’ stress too, so screening one parent helps both.

Kuhn et al. (2018) looked at moms of teens. They learned that stressful ties in the support network hurt more than simply having fewer friends, adding nuance to the 2002 social-support finding.

Siman-Tov et al. (2011) conceptually replicated the 2002 model. They swapped hardiness for sense of coherence and added marriage quality, showing the protective effect holds across different personal resources.

You already track child progress. Track mom’s support and hardiness too. A short checklist at intake can flag who needs respite, a parent support group, or just one reliable person to call. Plugging these gaps can lower stress before it spills into therapy sessions.