ABSTRACT

Parenting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is challenging. Parents of such children reportedly experience high levels of stress and poor mental health. This study aimed to assess the parenting styles, parental stress, and caregivers’ quality of life of children with ASD and compare them to those of children without ASD. Sixty-one and 63 caregivers of children with and without ASD, respectively, were recruited into the study and asked to complete parenting style, parental stress, and quality of life questionnaires. Of 124 caregivers, those of children with ASD reported lower authoritative scores, but higher permissive parenting style scores than those of children without ASD (p = .01 and p = .02, respectively). Significantly greater parental stress scores (p < .001) and poorer parental quality of life were reported by caregivers in ASD group. Furthermore, higher parental stress correlated moderately with following parenting styles: lower authoritative, higher authoritarian, and higher permissive. A negative correlation was found between the children with ASD’s quality of life and some parenting styles, including authoritarian and permissive types. Our results suggest that promoting appropriate parenting styles and helping caregivers manage their parenting stress could be beneficial for caregivers of children with autism.

摘要

抚养患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童具有挑战性。据报道，这些孩子的父母承受着巨大的压力和糟糕的心理健康。本研究旨在评估自闭症儿童的养育方式、父母压力和照顾者的生活质量，并将其与非自闭症儿童进行比较。分别招募了 61 名和 63 名患有和未患有 ASD 的儿童的照料者，并要求他们完成养育方式、父母压力和生活质量问卷。在 124 名看护人中，自闭症儿童的权威分数较低，但宽容的教养方式分数高于非自闭症儿童（分别为p = .01 和p = .02）。显着更高的父母压力分数（p< .001) 和较差的父母生活质量由 ASD 组的照顾者报告。此外，较高的父母压力与以下养育方式有中度相关：较低的权威性、较高的专制性和较高的宽容度。发现自闭症儿童的生活质量与一些教养方式（包括专制型和放纵型）之间存在负相关。我们的研究结果表明，促进适当的养育方式和帮助照顾者管理他们的养育压力可能对自闭症儿童的照顾者有益。