Parenting stress in mothers and fathers of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders: associations with child characteristics.
Ask moms about child sleep and mood, ask dads about hitting and running—stress shows up in different places for each parent.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Davis et al. (2008) asked moms and dads of toddlers with autism to fill out stress surveys. They wanted to know which child behaviors made each parent feel the most pressure.
What they found
Mothers felt the most stress when their child had trouble with sleep, eating, or mood swings. Fathers felt the most stress when their child hit, yelled, or ran off. Same child, different hot buttons.
How this fits with other research
Yorke et al. (2018) pooled many studies and found that extra behavior problems in kids with autism always raise parent stress. Ornstein’s finding is one piece of that bigger picture.
Giovagnoli et al. (2015) compared preschoolers with autism to typically-developing kids. They also saw that behavior problems, not autism severity, drove stress. Ornstein’s toddler data match this, but Giulia added a control group.
Scibelli et al. (2021) looked at teens, not toddlers. They found cognitive delay and mood problems stressed moms the most. Ornstein saw the same pattern in little kids, showing the trend holds as children grow.
Why it matters
When you meet a newly-diagnosed family, ask mom about sleep and eating issues. Ask dad about hitting or running away. Tailor your parent support questions to the right parent and the right behavior. You’ll sound like you already know their story.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Elevated parenting stress is observed among mothers of older children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but little is known about parents of young newly-diagnosed children. Associations between child behavior and parenting stress were examined in mothers and fathers of 54 toddlers with ASD (mean age = 26.9 months). Parents reported elevated parenting stress. Deficits/delays in children's social relatedness were associated with overall parenting stress, parent-child relationship problems, and distress for mothers and fathers. Regulatory problems were associated with maternal stress, whereas externalizing behaviors were associated with paternal stress. Cognitive functioning, communication deficits, and atypical behaviors were not uniquely associated with parenting stress. Clinical assessment of parental stress, acknowledging differences in parenting experiences for mothers and fathers of young children with ASD, is needed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2008 · doi:10.1007/s10803-007-0512-z