Extensive research has shown elevated mental health difficulties among parents of children with autism compared to other parents. Although several studies have explored factors related to mental health among parents of children with autism, the factors that influence and promote well-being remain poorly characterised. Parents of young, newly diagnosed autistic children may also be particularly vulnerable to stressors that impact mental health and well-being. We examined child-, parent-, and family/socioeconomic factors associated with concurrent mental health and well-being among 136 parents of young children with autism, aged 13–48 months. Parental mental health was predicted by both trait negative emotionality and reported child autism symptoms, while well-being was predicted by parent factors alone, including trait extraversion and mindfulness. Broader child characteristics and family/socioeconomic contextual factors made no significant contribution in regression models. While the mental health and well-being of parents with young autistic children are associated with one another, unique predictors seem to exist. That well-being was uniquely predicted by a modifiable parent characteristic – mindfulness – suggests the potential for early supports to bring direct benefits for parents, in the context of raising a young child with autism.

Lay abstract

Raising a child with autism has been linked to mental health difficulties. Poor parental mental health is likely influenced by various factors – including child-, parent-, and family/socioeconomic characteristics. However, little is known about what influences and promotes well-being (as opposed to mental health) among parents of young, newly diagnosed autistic children who may be particularly vulnerable. We examined child-, parent-, and family/socioeconomic factors associated with each of mental health and well-being in a sample of 136 parents of pre-school-aged children. Parental mental health was linked to both child- (i.e. autism symptom severity) and parent-related factors (i.e. personality traits reflecting a tendency to experience negative emotions). By contrast, in additional to mental health difficulties, which were linked to well-being, only other parent-related characteristics (and not child characteristics) were related to well-being. These included personality traits reflecting a tendency to be more extraverted/sociable, and also mindfulness. Other child-related and family/socioeconomic context factors (including household income, parental education level) were not linked to parental mental health or well-being in this sample. These results support the idea that poorer mental health and well-being are not simply the opposite of one another. That is, while these two factors were related, they were linked to different personal characteristics. Perhaps most importantly, the link between well-being and mindfulness – a personal characteristic that parents can improve – suggests mindfulness-based interventions may be helpful in directly supporting parental well-being in the context of raising a young child with autism.

中文翻译：

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自闭症学龄前儿童父母幸福感与心理健康的差异预测因子

广泛的研究表明，与其他父母相比，自闭症儿童父母的心理健康困难程度更高。尽管有几项研究探讨了自闭症儿童父母与心理健康有关的因素，但这些因素影响并促进了幸福感保持较差的特征。新近被诊断为自闭症儿童的父母也可能特别容易受到影响心理健康和幸福感的压力源的影响。我们研究了136名年龄在13-48个月的自闭症幼儿父母中与同时发生的心理健康和福祉相关的儿童，父母和家庭/社会经济因素。特质负面情绪和报告的儿童自闭症症状可预测父母的心理健康，而幸福感仅可通过特质外向和正念等父母因素来预测。较宽泛的儿童特征和家庭/社会经济背景因素对回归模型没有显着贡献。虽然自闭症患儿父母的心理健康和幸福感相互关联，但似乎存在独特的预测因素。

放置摘要

养育自闭症儿童与心理健康困难有关。父母心理健康状况不佳可能受多种因素影响，包括儿童，父母和家庭/社会经济特征。然而，鲜为人知的是，新诊断出的自闭症儿童的父母如何影响和促进幸福感（而不是心理健康），这些父母可能特别脆弱。我们在136名学龄前儿童的父母样本中检查了与心理健康和福祉相关的孩子，父母和家庭/社会经济因素。父母的心理健康与儿童（即自闭症症状严重程度）和与父母有关的因素（即反映经历不良情绪倾向的人格特征）相关。相比之下，除了与健康相关的精神健康困难外，只有其他父母相关的特征（而不是孩子特征）与幸福相关。这些包括反映出更外向/善于交往的倾向的人格特质，以及正念。在本样本中，其他与儿童有关的因素以及家庭/社会经济背景因素（包括家庭收入，父母的教育水平）与父母的心理健康或幸福感没有关联。这些结果支持这样的观点，即较差的心理健康和幸福并不仅仅是彼此相反。也就是说，虽然这两个因素相关，但它们与不同的个人特征有关。也许最重要的是