Parents Broader Autism Phenotype and Parenting Stress: Comparison Among Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Children

Background:  

Higher levels of parenting stress have been found in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those with other disabilities (Hayes & Watson, 2013). The question remaining is no longer if parents of children with ASD are more stressed than families without ASD, but why are these parents under more stress.  Previous studies have identified numerous child variables that are related to increased parenting stress, however, parental predictors that might be related to ASD have been examined less extensively. One parent related factor that may increase the likelihood of experiencing stress is parents’ broader autism phenotype (BAP) representing a subclinical set of personality and other features found in relatives of individuals with ASD such as rigidity, aloofness,  hypersensitivity to criticism,  interpersonal difficulties etc.) thought to index familiarity and/or genetic liability to autism (Piven et al., 1997).

Objectives:  

This study sought to examine (1) the presence of the BAP in Israeli mothers of children with ASD, children with Down syndrome (DS), and children with no disabilities (TD); and (2) to examine the associations between parenting stress (using both general and context-specific measures of parenting stress) and parents’ BAP scores across the three groups of mothers.

Methods:

Participants included 61 mothers of children with ASD, 19 mothers of children with DS and 43 mothers of TD children. The age of the children ranged from 5 to 9 years (Mean age = 6.9 years, SD = 1.5). Mothers completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ, Baron-Cohen et al., 2001); the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1995); a modified version of the Family Stress Scale (Quittner et al., 1990); and a family demographic survey. A series of one way ANOVAs and Pearson correlations were conducted.

Results:  

ANOVAs analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between the three groups of mothers in AQ total score and on each of the AQ’s domains scores (i.e., social skill, attention switching, attention to detail, communication and imagination). Consistent with previous studies, mothers of children with ASD report higher levels of parenting stress compared to mothers of children with DS and TD children (F(2,120) =29.49, p < .001; F(2,120) =29.74, p < .001 respectively). Inspection of the correlations across the three groups revealed different patterns of associations. For example, whereas in both the DS and TD groups there were significant correlations between the AQ communication and attention domains and the  parent-child dysfunctional interaction scale of the PSI (r = .34 - .49 p<.05), no such associations were found among the ASD group.

Conclusions:  

While numerous child variables impact parenting stress, mothers’ personality and other features representing autistic related traits also significantly affect mothers’ experiences of parenting stress. At the same time, these sets of personality and other features have a different influence on the experience of parenting stress among mothers of children with ASD in comparison to mothers of TD children and mothers of children with DS. Providing a potential one of the answers to the question why are these parents under more stress.