Child Behavior Problems Moderate the Relationship Between Maternal Self-Regulation and Maternal Stress

Background:  

Previous research has shown that parents, especially mothers, of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience more stress than mothers of typically developing children and children with other disabilities (Hayes & Watson, 2013).  Interventions targeting parents with concepts such as mindfulness training found lowered stress among parents and lowered child difficulties indirectly (Beer, Ward, & Moar, 2013; Singh et al., 2006, 2007).  However, while research has studied parental psychopathology’s effect on child outcomes (Suveg, Jacob, & Payne, 2010), little has observed how child behavior problems (BP) interacts with maternal self-regulation (SR) and stress.

Objectives:  

Given increased stress among mothers of children with ASD, it is important to understand the relationship between child BP and maternal SR on stress.  The purpose of the current study was to explore whether child (BP) functioned as a moderator of maternal SR and maternal stress. 

Methods:  

Sixty-six mothers of children with ASD aged 4-17 participated in an online survey on mindfulness and stress.  Mothers completed a demographics questionnaire, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability (ABC-I; Aman, Singh, Stewart, & Field, 1985) to measure child BP, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) to measure global stress, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) to measure reappraisal, and the Adult Temperament Scale-Effortful Control (ATQ-EC; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000).  The MAAS, ERQ- reappraisal, and ATQ-EC were summed to create a SR composite.  Hierarchical multiple linear regression of the ABC-I and maternal SR composite, both mean-centered, on stress was conducted with an interaction term to observe whether child BP functioned as a moderator.

Results:  

Maternal SR [block 1] was associated with lower stress (R²= .293; β= -.128; F (1, 64) = 26.488, p < .000).  Increased child BP [block 2] was also associated with increased stress (R²= .063; β= .154; F (1, 63) = 6.152, p = .016).  The interaction of maternal SR and child BP [block 3] significantly predicted increased stress (R²= .042; β= .006; F (1, 62) = 4.292, p =.042).  The interaction was examined by comparing the interaction at the mean, +1 standard deviation above, and -1 standard deviation below the mean of child BP.  Simple slope tests indicated that the interaction was significant for all levels (low: β= .006; p= .042; mean: β= .006; p= .042; high: β= .006; p= .042).  However, there was no significant main effect of SR on stress for mothers of children with high BP (low: β= -.192; p< .000; mean: β= -.128; p< .000; high: β= -.065; p= .137).

Conclusions:  

Results indicate that severity of child BP moderates the effect of maternal SR on stress.  For mothers of children with ASD with higher BP, maternal SR does not have a significant effect on perceived stress, while mothers of children with lower BP and higher SR abilities report lower stress than mothers with low SR.  Implications include parent-targeted interventions, as parent-targeted interventions alone may not be as effective in alleviating stress for parents of children with severe BP.