Mothers of children with autism or communication disorders: successful adaptation and the double ABCX model.
Social support and active coping shield moms of autistic kids from stress more than child symptom severity ever does.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Konstantareas (1987) asked moms of kids with autism or speech delays to fill out surveys. The team wanted to know what helps families feel okay and what makes life harder.
They used the Double ABCX model. Think of it like a math formula: stressors pile up, but support and good coping can balance the scale.
What they found
Moms who had more friends, family, or helpers felt better. Moms who used active coping—like making plans or asking for help—also felt better.
Moms who blamed themselves or saw the future as hopeless felt worse. Surprisingly, how severe the child’s symptoms were did not predict mom’s mood as strongly as support and coping did.
How this fits with other research
Turk et al. (2010) ran a similar survey and got the same result: more family support equals higher optimism and better mom well-being. This is a clean conceptual replication.
Miezah et al. (2026) followed families for two years. They showed that support and active coping keep lowering stress over time, while child behavior problems and family fights raise it. This extends the 1987 finding into the long-term.
Tunali et al. (2002) zoomed in on one coping style called redefinition—mentally reframing problems. Moms who did this reported higher life satisfaction. This extends the idea that not just any coping, but specific cognitive shifts, matter.
Why it matters
You can’t erase a diagnosis, but you can boost support today. Add a five-minute social-support check to parent meetings: ask who they can call for help and give local autism-parent group numbers. Teach one active-coping skill like writing a short action plan before leaving the session. These cheap steps protect mom’s mood more than drilling symptom charts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a modified Double ABCX or FAAR model in predicting successful adaptation--good marital adjustment, few maternal depressive symptoms, and an in-home rating of family functioning--in 45 families of autistic and communication-impaired children. The model consisted of severity of the handicap and other family stresses, family resources of cohesion and social support, family definition of the handicap, and adequacy of coping patterns. Canonical correlation and subsequent multiple regression procedures demonstrated that family adaptation was positively predicted by adequacy of social support and active coping patterns. Poorer adaptation was predicted by other family stresses, unwarranted maternal self-blame for the handicap, and maternal definition of the handicap as a family catastrophe. Findings for cohesion were mixed. Resources and beliefs were more predictive of adaptation than severity of the child's handicap.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1987 · doi:10.1007/BF01486964