Parenting Styles as a Predictor of Parenting Stress and Family Quality of Life in Mothers of Sons with Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Date
2020-06
Authors
Cochrane, Karis
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Abstract
Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience higher levels of parenting stress and lower family quality of life (FQOL), relative to both parents of typically developing children and parents of children with other disabilities; this is especially true for mothers of children with ASD. Baumrind’s (1966) parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) have been proposed to play a key role in the risk for elevated parenting stress and low FQOL in this population; however, the current literature has no consensus on which parenting styles contribute more or less to the increased risk in the ASD population. Therefore, this study explored which parenting styles were related to greater or lesser levels of parenting stress and better or worse levels of FQOL in mothers of sons with ASD. The frequency with which each parenting style was used in this population was also explored. A total of 52 mothers of sons, ages 6 to 11 years with ASD were recruited through autism organizations, programs, and support groups in Canada and the United States to complete an online survey. Two independent hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted; the first was run with parenting styles and parenting stress and the second with parenting styles and FQOL. In the opposite direction of what was hypothesized, the authoritative parenting style was associated with the lowest levels of parenting stress and the highest FQOL, whereas the permissive parenting style was associated with the highest levels of parenting stress and the lowest FQOL. Finally, in line with what was hypothesized, the authoritative parenting style was the most commonly employed parenting style in this population.
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Keywords
Autism spectrum disorder, Developmental disabilities, Parenting stress, Parenting style, Family quality of life