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. 2024 Nov 13.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06629-3. Online ahead of print.

Parental Representations and Emotional Availability: The Case of Children with Autism and Severe Behavior Problems

Efrat Sher-Censor  1 , Moria Harel  2   3 , David Oppenheim  2 , Adi Aran  3   4
Affiliations

Parental Representations and Emotional Availability: The Case of Children with Autism and Severe Behavior Problems

Efrat Sher-Censor et al. J Autism Dev Disord. .

Abstract

Studies suggest that parents' emotional availability (EA) is associated with children's wellbeing, including in the case of children with autism. Our study extended prior research by examining the role of parents' representations in fostering parental EA and by focusing on fathers and on children with autism and severe behavior problems. We expected that parents' positive representations would be associated with higher EA and compared mothers' and fathers' representations and EA. Participants were 79 mothers and 69 fathers (child age range = 61-173 months, 21.95% girls). Representation assessments included the Reaction to Diagnosis Questionnaire, tapping resolution with respect to the child's diagnosis, and the coherence and positive comments in parents' Five Minute Speech Samples about the child. Parents' EA was coded from parent-child play interactions. Controlling for children's autism symptoms and adaptive functioning, mothers' resolution with respect to the child's diagnosis and positive comments (but not coherence) were associated with their EA, and fathers' coherence (but not positive comments and resolution) was associated with their EA. Mothers expressed more positive comments than fathers, and the resolution and EA scores of mothers and fathers were significantly correlated. Our results highlight the importance of considering both parents' representations and EA when studying and working with families of children with autism and severe behavior problems.

Keywords: Autism; Behavior problems; Emotional availability; Fathers; Five minute speech sample; Mothers; Resolution with the child’s diagnosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations Conflict of interest Adi Aran reports receiving consultation fees and stock options for advisory roles at BOL Pharma (2017–2019), stock options for advisory roles at GCANRx (once, 2021), and consultation fees for advisory roles at Bazelet group (2024-ongoing). These funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of the data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest. Institutional Review Board Statement The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board Shaare Zedek Medical center (#0175-16) and the Israeli Ministry of Health (#20162153). Informed Consent Parents provided written informed consent. Written assent was obtained from the children when appropriate.

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