The Effect of Family Characteristics on the Functioning of a Child with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Bedouin Society in Israel.
Grandmother support boosts adaptive behavior in Bedouin children with ASD by strengthening family functioning and maternal wellbeing.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chaki et al. (2025) asked 120 Bedouin mothers about their autistic child, the child's grandmother, and the whole family.
They used surveys to measure grandmother emotional support, family functioning, maternal life satisfaction, and the child's daily living skills.
The team then ran a path model to see if grandmother support helped the child by first making mom and the family feel better.
What they found
Grandmother support did not touch the child directly.
It first lifted family functioning, then raised maternal life satisfaction, and only then improved the child’s adaptive behavior.
Each step in this chain was strong and clear, showing a true domino effect inside the family system.
How this fits with other research
Özoğuz et al. (2025) found the same kind of link in Turkish families: when moms feel better, kids function better.
Del Bianco et al. (2024) adds that family-system stress predicts mental-health symptoms across cultures, so the Bedouin pattern is likely not a fluke.
Two older studies seem to clash. Carr et al. (2013) saw rising maternal stress as kids hit adolescence, and Busch et al. (2010) found moms of autistic kids more stressed than moms of Down-syndrome kids.
The clash disappears when you notice culture and support: Bedouin grandmothers actively buffer stress, while the other samples lacked that specific extended-family help.
Why it matters
If you serve families with strong grandparent ties, invite grandma into the plan. Ask about her support, teach her the goals, and watch family mood and child skills rise together. One quick step: add a grandparent goal to your next caregiver interview sheet.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by difficulties in communication and social-emotional interaction. It is associated with an increase of parental stress and poor family functioning, both of which are harmful for a child's functioning and adaptive behavior. An important source of support to parents are grandparents, especially in traditional populations. One such population is the Bedouin population. The present study tested the association between emotional support from mother and mother-in-law to the adaptive behavior of children with ASD, and whether this relation is serially mediated by family functioning and satisfaction in life as reported by Bedouin mothers of children with ASD. 100 mothers of children with ASD fulfilled a questionnaire about emotional support from their mothers and mother-in-law, family functioning, satisfaction in life and child's adaptive behavior. We found that indeed, family functioning and satisfaction in life serially mediated the relations between emotional support from mother and mother-in-law and child adaptive behavior. These findings indicate that intergenerational solidarity between women can improve not only the functioning of the nuclear family and wife's satisfaction with life, but also, indirectly, the adaptive behavior of a child with ASD. It highlights the importance of women solidarity, especially in traditional society, where women are kept marginal.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s11013-018-9567-x