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Different Sources of Parenting Stress in Families of Toddlers with ASD or DD
Parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have consistently been found to experience higher levels of parenting stress, than parents of children with other disabilities. Studies have linked this heightened stress to ASD specific characteristics (social skills, communication, repetitive behaviors), as well as more general child characteristics (behavior problems, daily living skills). Importantly, studies are beginning to address how parent/family factors contribute to parenting stress. However, most of these studies have looked at parenting stress in families with children in middle childhood and beyond, and few have addressed the issue of social support.
Objectives:
This study extends previous research on the experience of parenting stress in families of young children with an ASD. Specifically what child, parent and family factors contribute to the experience of stress at the time the child is diagnosed, and how do these differ from the factors that contribute to stress in families of children with a Developmental Delay (DD).
Methods:
Data were drawn from a study assessing the validity of the M-CHAT/-R screening tools. Parenting stress was measured using the Parenting Stress- Short Form (PSI-SF) with parents of 89 children with an ASD (mean age=25.1 months) and 48 children with a DD (mean age=24.8 months). Parents were also given a caregiver information questionnaire, the Vineland- II and the Social Support Index. Children were assessed using the ADOS, CARS, and Mullen Scales of Early Learning.
Results:
Contrary to previous studies, total level of parenting stress did not differ in the parents of children with an ASD (M=77.18, SD=21.19) or a DD (M=81.19, SD=23.50), t(135)=1.04, p=034. CARS Total was associated with higher stress in the ASD group (r=.22, p=.04), but not the DD group. Additionally higher scores on both expressive and receptive language domains on the Mullen were associated with higher levels of stress in the ASD but not the DD group, (r=.25, p=.02; r=.27, p=.01). Finally, lower scores on the Vineland-II Social domain were related to higher levels of total stress in the ASD, but not the DD group (r=-.24, p=.03). Higher levels of social support showed a moderate association with lower parenting stress in both ASD and DD groups. Overall social support did not significantly moderate the effect of symptom severity on parenting stress in the ASD group; more specific moderators will be explored.
Conclusions:
Parents of two-year-old children with an ASD or DD were shown to experience similar levels of parenting stress. While stress in the ASD group was associated with ASD specific behaviors and higher language skills, the same was not true for the DD group. The finding that higher language skills are associated with parenting stress might suggest that as children become more verbal, their ASD-specific symptoms might become more apparent, causing the parent distress. Additional hypotheses on the experience of stress in the DD group will be examined. The differences between ASD and DD groups suggest early differences in the experience of parenting children with an ASD and those with DD; however both lead to experiences of distress.