Symptom severity and posttraumatic growth in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: The moderating role of social support.
More social support flips the script: severe autism symptoms drive parent growth instead of burnout.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Feng et al. (2022) asked parents of children with autism to fill out three surveys. The surveys measured how severe the child's symptoms were, how much social support the parents felt they had, and how much post-traumatic growth they experienced.
The team wanted to know if social support changes the link between symptom severity and personal growth.
What they found
Parents who saw high autism symptoms and also had strong social support reported the most personal growth. Support did not erase stress, but it turned stress into a growth chance.
When support was low, more symptoms meant less growth. When support was high, more symptoms meant more growth.
How this fits with other research
Wang et al. (2025) followed families for six months and saw the same pattern: support and resilience feed each other over time. Their data update the 2022 snapshot by showing the effect lasts.
García-López et al. (2016) looked only at couple-level support and still found happier marriages helped moms and dads cope. The new paper widens the lens to friends, relatives, and community.
Shawler et al. (2021) seems to disagree: they found informal support helped Egyptian parents of kids with mixed delays, but formal services did not. The clash fades when you see they studied different diagnoses and cultures. Both papers agree that natural networks matter most.
Why it matters
BCBAs often track child progress, but this paper says you should also ask, 'Who is in your corner?' Adding a quick social-support checklist to parent meetings can show where to build the team's circle. When symptoms spike, you can say, 'This is tough, and it can also be a time of growth—let's grow your support net first.'
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience posttraumatic growth (PTG). No study has investigated the moderating effect of social support and family function between symptom severity and PTG. The study aims to examine whether social support and family function moderate the relationship between symptom severity and PTG among parents of children with ASD. Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 385 parents of children with ASD were recruited from September 2019 to November 2020 by convenience sampling. Participants completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Social Support Rating Scale, Autism Behavior Checklist, and Family Apgar Index. Both social support (r = 0.354, p < 0.01) and family function (r = 0.379, p < 0.05) were significantly related to PTG. Although symptom severity was not significantly related to PTG (p > 0.05), social support moderated the correlation between symptom severity and PTG [β(SE) = -0.134 (0.719), p < 0.01, 95% CI = (-3.552, -0.723)]; the positive association was stronger for low social support [β(SE) = 0.145 (0.054), t = 2.675, p < 0.01, 95% CI = (0.038, 0.252)], while the negative association was weaker for high social support [β(SE) = -0.121 (0.051), t = -2.378, p < 0.05, 95% CI = (-0.221, -0.021)]. Family function did not moderate the relationship (p > 0.05). Higher social support appears to buffer the detrimental effect of symptom severity on PTG, and social support seems to be an important factor when delivering interventions aimed at decreasing symptom severity and improving positive growth. LAY SUMMARY: Both social support and family function were positively associated with PTG. Providing sufficient perceived social support and enhancing family function promoted parents' positive psychological experience. Higher social support seemed to buffer the detrimental effect of symptom severity on PTG, and it could be an important intervention target for improving the psychological growth of parents of children with ASD.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1002/aur.2673