The psychological and physical health of fathers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder compared to fathers of children with long-term disabilities and fathers of children without disabilities.
One in six fathers of autistic kids report high distress and poor health, similar to fathers of children with other disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Seymour et al. (2017) sent surveys to three groups of dads. One group had autistic children. One group had children with other long-term disabilities. One group had children without disabilities.
The survey asked about stress, mood, sleep, and general health. The goal was to see if fathers of autistic kids carry extra health burdens.
What they found
Most dads of autistic children said their health was good. One in six reported high distress and poor health.
That rate was higher than dads of non-disabled kids. It matched the rate seen in dads of children with other disabilities.
How this fits with other research
Bitsika et al. (2017) dug deeper into stress. They measured cortisol, a stress hormone, in 149 parents. Only child self-injury predicted chronic stress. This extends Monique’s finding by showing child behavior, not diagnosis alone, drives physiological strain.
Acosta et al. (2024) looked at the flip side. They found that strong co-parenting and mastery beliefs cut distress. Together these studies form a loop: child SIB raises stress, while parent teamwork lowers it.
Marchal et al. (2017) ran a similar survey with Dutch dads of children with Down syndrome. They too saw higher distress in fathers. The pattern across disabilities suggests dad distress is tied to disability parenting demands, not autism specifically.
Why it matters
You now know one in six dads of autistic clients may be running on empty. Add a quick father check-in to your parent meetings. Ask about sleep, mood, and teamwork with the other caregiver. If the child shows self-injury, fast-track behavior support and link dad to respite or counseling. Healthy fathers stay engaged, and engaged fathers help treatment stick.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The psychological and physical health of fathers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is under-researched. Due to the unique parenting demands, fathers of children with ASD may be at increased risk of experiencing psychological and physical health difficulties compared to fathers of children without disabilities (W/OD) and fathers of children with other long-term disabilities (LTD). What little research there is on fathers of children with ASD is often conducted on small clinical samples, or embeds the experiences of fathers within other groups. AIM: The current study aimed to explore the extent to which fathers of children with ASD experience psychological distress and physical health issues (e.g., general health, smoking, chronic pain) compared to fathers of children W/OD and fathers of children with a LTD. METHOD: From a large, nationally representative sample of children, 159 fathers of children with ASD were identified, along with 45 fathers of children with a LTD and 6578 fathers of children W/OD. RESULTS: The majority of fathers were experiencing good psychological and physical health. Approximately 1 in 6 fathers of children with ASD were experiencing elevated levels of psychological distress and poor global health, and were at significantly greater risk than fathers of children W/OD; although these differences were not found compared to fathers of children with a LTD. CONCLUSIONS: Some fathers of children with ASD may require additional support which not only focuses on their psychological wellbeing but also fathers' physical health. The current findings encourage health services to check-in with, or reach-out to fathers as they too may require additional support.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.07.018