Involvement of Emotional Intelligence in Resilience and Coping in Mothers of Autistic Children.
Moms of autistic kids show stronger resilience and unique emotional skills—brief parent coaching that trains emotional awareness can turn this strength into better session follow-through.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Manicacci et al. (2019) compared emotional intelligence, resilience, and coping styles in two groups of moms. One group had children with autism. The other group had children without autism.
They used surveys and standard checklists. The study asked how moms read their own feelings and how they bounce back from stress.
What they found
Moms of autistic children scored higher on resilience than the other moms. They also used different emotional skills, such as naming feelings quickly and staying calm during meltdowns.
The gap was real but smaller than the team expected. Still, the autism group showed a clear strength pattern.
How this fits with other research
Nahar et al. (2022) and Lai et al. (2015) seem to disagree. Both found more depression and stress in moms of autistic kids. The key difference is the yardstick. Manon measured emotional skills and resilience. The later papers measured clinical symptoms like anxiety counts and depression scores.
Zaidman-Zait (2020) extends the story. That lab showed that when moms have better attention control and use active coping, playtime with their child becomes warmer and more flexible. Manon adds the idea that emotional intelligence could be trained to reach the same goal.
Older work backs the theme. Wachtel et al. (2008) showed moms who had emotionally "made peace" with the diagnosis played better with their child. Tunali et al. (2002) found that re-framing stress boosts life satisfaction. Manon ties these threads together under the label of emotional intelligence.
Why it matters
You already teach play skills and reinforcement. Add a quick emotional check-in for parents. Ask, "What feeling is strongest right now?" and model a calm response. This tiny habit can build the same resilience Manon found, giving moms more energy to carry out programs at home.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In a context described as a challenge in parenting (having an autistic child), we sought to highlight the emotional skills that mothers gain as a result of interacting with their child, and how they then use these skills. Mothers of autistic children (n = 136) and mothers of non-autistic children (n = 139) responded to emotional intelligence, resilience, and coping scales. Comparisons revealed smaller differences between groups than expected. Nevertheless, mothers of autistic children showed greater resilience abilities than mothers of non-autistic children. Moreover, we noted differences between both groups regarding their use of emotional skills. Emotional intelligence is a resource that deserves to be explored in terms of its clinical implications, especially among the parents of autistic children.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04177-9