Still stressed but feeling better: Well-being in autism spectrum disorder families as children become adults.
Parents of teens and adults with autism feel less depressed and anxious than parents of young children—boosting their sense that life makes sense may keep the gains coming.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sanz-Cervera et al. (2015) asked parents of teens and adults with autism how they felt.
They compared these parents to parents of young children with autism.
All parents filled out the same surveys on stress, depression, and anxiety.
What they found
Parents of older kids said they felt less sad and worried.
Stress levels stayed high in both groups.
The parents who saw life as meaningful and manageable felt the best.
How this fits with other research
Lai et al. (2015) and Dijkstra-de Neijs et al. (2025) found the opposite: parents of young children with autism report more depression and burnout.
The difference is child age. Early years are hardest; feelings improve as kids grow.
Benson (2018) tracked moms for 12 years and saw stress wear down health over time. Pilar’s snapshot shows the upswing can come later.
Why it matters
Tell weary parents that feelings can lighten as their child ages.
In session, build their sense of coherence: help them see life as understandable, manageable, and meaningful. A short wrap-up chat or written note that links today’s progress to the big picture can do it.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The transition to adulthood and adulthood itself have been identified as times of stress for parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Longitudinal studies, however, show improvements in the well-being of mothers of adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. This article presents a cross-sectional study of 102 Spanish parents (51 mothers and 51 fathers) of 102 individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The aim was to examine parental well-being (evaluated based on stress, anxiety, depression and psychological well-being) in three groups of parents of adults, adolescents and young children with autism spectrum disorder. In addition, the relationships between parental well-being and the characteristics of their children, social support, parental age and sense of coherence were analysed. The results showed that although parental stress and psychological well-being levels were similar across the groups, depression and anxiety were lower in parents of adolescents or adults compared with parents of young children. Different factors predicted different measures of parental well-being, but sense of coherence emerged as the main predictive factor for all parental well-being measures. These findings are discussed in relation to parental adaptation over the lifespan and the implications for interventions in autism spectrum disorder families.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2015 · doi:10.1177/1362361315583191