This study explored parent caregivers’ perspectives of the influence of context on the behaviour of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Applying interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), we collected and analysed in-depth interview data from four South African parent caregivers (females = 4, age range = 38 to 52 years) regarding their children’s behaviours in school and home contexts. The findings revealed the parent caregivers to perceive external context factors of parenting style, stimulus loading, and social factors as interacting dynamically with internal context factors of biological and psychological predispositions to influence their children’s behaviours. Belief in the internal capacity for growth accompanied by addressing external factors in psychologically flexible ways, appear to be important in supporting the behavioural competencies of children with ASD. A responsive parenting style would assist parent caregivers in providing targeted behavioural supports to their children with ASD.

这项研究探讨了父母照顾者对情境对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童行为的影响的观点。应用解释性现象学分析（IPA），我们收集并分析了来自四名南非父母照料者（女性= 4，年龄范围= 38至52岁）关于孩子在学校和家庭环境中的行为的深入访谈数据。研究结果表明，父母的照顾者认为父母的教养方式，刺激负荷和社会因素等外部情境因素与生物学和心理易感性的内部情境因素动态相互作用，从而影响孩子的行为。相信内部成长能力，并以心理上灵活的方式应对外部因素，在支持ASD儿童的行为能力方面似乎很重要。响应式的养育方式将帮助父母的照顾者为患有自闭症的孩子提供针对性的行为支持。