Parenting Stress in Autistic and ADHD Children: Implications of Social Support and Child Characteristics

Abstract

High levels of parenting stress have been detected in mothers of children with Autism (ASD) and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comparing with mothers of typically developing (TD) children. The current study explored the implications of social support (confidant and affective support) and child characteristics (emotional, behavioral and sleep problems) on parenting stress in ASD and ADHD. Furthermore, the differences between mothers of children with autism, ADHD and TD on the studied variables were examined.A total of 120 mothers of 30 TD children, 47 with ASD without intellectual disability and 43 with ADHD collaborated in the study. Significant differences were found between clinical and TD groups in parenting stress, social support, and child characteristics.Correlation analysis in the group with ADHD revealed that parental stress correlated significantly with social support and with children's emotional problems. In the ASD group, parental stress also correlated significantly with children's sleep and behavioral problems. Moreover, multiple regressions showed that confidant support was a significant predictor of parenting stress in both clinical groups.The findings provide new insights to consider social support as a fundamental part of treatments for parenting stress in mothers of children with ASD and ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; ASD; Child characteristics; Parenting stress; Social support.

Fig. 1

Correlation matrix among mothers and children variables in ASD and ADHD groups. PSI (total parenting stress index), Support c (confidant support), Support a (affective support), SDQ-E (SDQ emotional problems), SDQ-B (behavioral problems), Sleep p (total sleep problems) *p < .05