Differences in Parenting Stress between Mothers and Fathers Following an Autism Diagnosis

Background: Incorporating fathers into parenting research is a recent and important development (Flippin & Crais, 2011). Results of studies comparing stress levels of mothers and fathers of children with autism are mixed, with some evidence supporting similar levels of stress (e.g., Hastings, Kovshoff, Ward, et al., 2005), and other data supporting higher maternal stress (e.g., Dabrowska & Pisula, 2010). Only one study has specifically compared levels of stress in parents newly adjusting to the diagnosis (Davis & Carter, 2008). Clearly, additional research on the topic is needed. Furthermore, it is important to better understand sources of parenting stress in order to tailor autism intervention to meet the needs of both parents (Flippin & Crais, 2011). Given that social interaction deficits are a core, underlying feature of the disorder, child social impairment may be one particularly salient source of stress.

Objectives: (1) To compare parenting stress in mothers and fathers of children newly diagnosed with ASD. (2) To examine associations between child social impairment and parenting stress for both parent genders.

Methods: Participants included 29 mother-father pairs who enrolled in a parent education program designed to teach families about ASD. The children of enrolled parents ranged in age from 2-10 years (M=4.5 years). Parents completed the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form (PSI-4-SF; Abidin, 2012), comprised of three subscales: Parental Distress (PD), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (P-CDI), and Difficult Child (DC). Parents also completed the Social Responsiveness Scale, 2^nd Edition (Constantino, 2012), comprised of five subscales: Social Awareness (Awr), Social Cognition (Cog), Social Communication (Com), Social Motivation (Mot), and Restricted Interests and Repetitive Behavior (RRB). Paired samples t-tests were conducted to examine differences in stress between mothers and fathers. Pearson correlations were conducted separately for mothers and fathers to examine associations between child social impairment and parenting stress.

Results: The current sample revealed that 41.4% of mothers and 20.7% of fathers had a Total Stress score within the clinically significant range. There was a significant difference between mothers and fathers on the DC subscale (t(28)=2.552, p<.05, Mother>Father). There were no group differences on PD (p=.17) or P-CDI (p=.17) subscales. For mothers, P-CDI scores correlated significantly with Com (r=.42, p<.05), and DC scores correlated significantly with Cog (r=.55, p<.01), Com (r=.60, p<.01), and RRB (r=.42, p<.05). For fathers, there were no significant correlations between child social impairment and parenting stress (p’s=.07-.94; see Table 1).

Conclusions: Following a child’s diagnosis of autism, mothers and fathers experience comparable levels of stress with regard to personal factors (e.g., social support, spousal conflict) and the parent-child relationship. However, as compared to fathers, mothers perceive the child’s behavioral characteristics to be more difficult. Moreover, maternal stress was related to several aspects of child social impairment, including cognition, communication, and restricted interests and repetitive behavior, while no significant associations were found for fathers. Additional research on the mechanisms underlying these differences is critical and may be related to mothers’ increased involvement in the care of the child with autism, more adaptive coping strategies utilized by fathers, or different parental expectations.