Stresses and coping strategies of Chinese families with children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Peishi and colleagues asked 368 Chinese families to fill out two forms. One form measured stress. The other listed ways parents cope.

All families had a child with autism or another developmental disability. The team compared stress and coping between the two groups.

Parents of children with autism scored higher on stress than parents of children with other delays.

The autism group also used planning, acceptance, and active coping more often. They tried to map out each day and accept what they could not change.

McCabe (2013) helps explain why Chinese parents lean on planning. China’s autism services grew without clear maps, so parents had to build their own.

Bentenuto et al. (2021) show the same stress pattern in Italy. When COVID closed services, Italian parents of children with developmental disorders also felt more stress and used more planning.

Dudley et al. (2019) look at Arab and U.S. parents. Arab parents report money worries and religious coping, while U.S. parents report service gaps. All three studies agree: when services are thin, parents plan harder.

Rattaz et al. (2014) seem to disagree. French parents say they are mostly satisfied with staff. The gap is simple: the French survey asked about current services, while the Chinese survey asked about life without them.

If you work with Chinese families, expect high stress and lots of questions about daily schedules. Give them clear written plans and teach staff to honor those plans. The same tool—structured daily visuals—can help any family when local services are scarce.