Marital Satisfaction and Perceived Family Support in Families of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Dyadic Analysis

Abstract

Background: Raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) causes tremendous stress for parents that may lead to marital conflict and relationship dissatisfaction. Many factors are associated with parent relationships including severity of autistic behaviors and social support. This study aimed to investigate whether severity of autistic behaviors, perceived family support, and complementarity of interpersonal styles between husbands and wives predicted couple satisfaction among the parents of children with ASD.

Method: Seven hundred ninety-seven parent dyads of children aged 7-14 years old with ASD participated in the study. Measurements used included couple satisfaction index, perceived family support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, inter-personal style using the inventory of interpersonal problems, the ABC autism checklists as well as sociodemographic and related factors. The Actor Partner Interdependence Model estimated by multilevel modeling was used for analysis.

Results: Perceived family support was relevant in married couples regarding their marital relationship, but the effects on husbands and wives differed. Husbands' relationship satisfaction was predicted by how they perceived being supported by family. The severity of autistic behaviors predicted relationship satisfaction but only actor effect. Negative prediction of interpersonal complementarity on couple satisfaction was observed. In addition, time spent on raising children had a negative impact on the quality of the relationship. Partner effect of time spent was observed among women.

Conclusion: Dyadic analysis using an actor-partner independence model confirmed perception of family support predicts relationship satisfaction among parents of children with ASD in addition to the severity of autistic behaviors and time spent caring for children. Complementarity of individual interpersonal style had no effect on couple satisfaction. This research suggests implications for interventions regarding building skills that elicit support from family members.

Keywords: actor partner interdependence model; autism; couple satisfaction; family support; parents.

Figure 1

A hypothetical actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) with distinguishable members. The boxes on the left indicate the independent variables for husbands and wives. The boxes on the right indicate the couple satisfaction for each. E1 and E2 represent the residual error of couple satisfaction for husbands and wives, respectively. Single-headed arrows indicate predictive paths in which the husband’s participant (a₁) and partner (p₁) effects differ from the wife’s participant (a₂) and partner (p₂) effects. Paths labeled with ‘a’ indicate actor effects, and paths labeled with ‘p’ indicate partner effects. Double-headed arrows indicate correlated variables.

Figure 2

Actor–partner interdependence model for perceived family support.