The impact of behaviour problems on caregiver stress in young people with autism spectrum disorders.
Cut conduct problems first; that is what lifts caregiver stress most in autism families.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tracked caregiver stress in families of youth with autism. They used ratings taken once and again one year later.
They looked at two child skills: conduct problems and daily living skills. Then they asked which one raised parent stress more.
What they found
Only conduct problems forecasted higher parent stress a year later. Better daily living skills did not lower stress.
In short, acting-out behaviors drive parent strain, not how well the child dresses or brushes teeth.
How this fits with other research
Reed et al. (2017) extends this view. They showed stressed moms judge other parents’ limit-setting more harshly. This warns us to double-check parent reports when stress is high.
Salomone et al. (2019) adds biology. They linked child emotional problems to flatter caregiver cortisol and more sick days. Together the papers say: curb acting-out and emotional outbursts to protect both parent mood and health.
Maddox et al. (2015) also found child hyperactivity wears caregivers down physically. The 2006 study focused on stress ratings; the newer work shows the body keeps the score.
Why it matters
When you write a behavior plan, put conduct problems at the top of the list. Reducing hitting, yelling, or running away gives parents the biggest stress relief. Teaching chores or self-care still helps the child, but it won’t calm the home as fast.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the correlates of caregiver stress in a large sample of young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Two main objectives were to: (1) disentangle the effects of behaviour problems and level of functioning on caregiver stress; and (2) measure the stability of behaviour problems and caregiver stress. METHODS: Parents or teachers of 293 young people with ASDs completed measures of stress, behaviour problems and social competence. Parents also completed an adaptive behaviour scale. Eighty-one young people were rated twice at a 1-year interval. RESULTS: Parents and teachers did not perfectly agree on the nature and severity of behaviour problems. However, both sets of ratings indicated that behaviour problems were strongly associated with stress. Conduct problems in particular were significant predictors of stress. Adaptive skills were not significantly associated with caregiver stress. Parental reports of behaviour problems and stress were quite stable over the 1-year interval, much more so than teacher reports. Parent ratings suggested that behaviour problems and stress exacerbated each other over time. This transactional model did not fit the teacher data. CONCLUSION: Results of this study suggested that it is a specific group of externalized behaviours that are the most strongly associated with both parent and teacher stress. Results were discussed from methodological and conceptual perspectives.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2006 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2005.00732.x