"Their Happiness, Not Neurotypical Success": Autistic Adults Reflect on the Parenting of Autistic Children.
Parent confidence rises when you fix service barriers and lighten caregiver load, not when you chase “less autism.”
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sarah and her team asked 324 parents of autistic kids to fill out a survey.
They wanted to know what makes parents feel confident or not.
They checked child age, immigrant status, how hard it is to get services, and caregiver burden.
They did not look at how severe the autism traits were.
What they found
Parent confidence did not go up or down with autism severity.
It did go down when parents faced long waits, high costs, or rude staff.
It also dropped when parents felt worn out or isolated.
Older kids and immigrant families reported lower confidence too.
How this fits with other research
Rattaz et al. (2014) saw the same thing in France. Parents were happy with kind staff but angry about poor communication and lack of autism tools.
Dudley et al. (2019) compared Arab and US parents. Both groups said money and red tape hurt their confidence more than their child’s traits.
Balabanovska et al. (2025) looked at why some parents drop out of therapy. They found high stress and no time were the top reasons, matching Sarah’s caregiver burden result.
Krafft et al. (2019) asked parents about the future. Hope was high, but lack of guidance hurt confidence, echoing the service barrier theme.
Why it matters
Stop blaming low parent confidence on “severe autism.” Instead, cut waitlists, lower fees, and give parents real breaks. A quick win: add a five-minute check-in at pick-up to ask, “What do you need this week?”
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Many parents of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulty accessing appropriate services for their children, and may report low levels of parent self-efficacy. In an effort to identify the factors that contribute to the difficulties these families face, this study examined the role of demographic, systemic, and clinical need variables as they relate to parents' experience of self-efficacy. Participants included 324 parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, 12-25 years of age. Results suggest that parent self-efficacy is related to a number of variables and not simply a child's clinical situation, including child age, parent immigrant status, barriers to service access, and caregiver burden. Given the crucial role that parents often play in the lives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan, it is important that service providers support the efforts of parents who provide and access care for their children.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/1362361315586292