Parental Stress in Families of Children With Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities
Abstract
The level of parental stress in families of children with autism and other developmental disabilities and its association with child comorbid symptoms was studied in an ethnically diverse population, in a cross-sectional study with structured interview. The sample included 50 families of children with autism and 50 families of children with other developmental disabilities, matched by age/gender. Interview included Parenting Stress Index–Short Form, Gastrointestinal Questionnaire, Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire, and Aberrant Behavior Checklist. In this ethnically diverse sample, parental stress was significantly higher for the autism group and for non-Hispanic and US-born mothers. In both study groups, parental stress was related to child irritability. Parental stress was also related to gastrointestinal problems in the autism group and to sleep difficulties in the developmental disabilities group. Targeting child irritability may be particularly important in reducing parental stress for families of children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
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Hispanic parents of children with developmental disabilities or risk of developmental delays reported significantly lower parenting stress than non-Hispanic parents.
“Valicenti-McDermott et al. (2015) and Hickey et al. (2021) previously found that Hispanic parents of children with developmental disabilities or risk of developmental delays reported significantly lower parenting stress than non-Hispanic parents.”
From Parenting Stress, Child Social Functioning, and Part C Early Intervention in Predominantly Low-Income Families of Children With or at High Risk for Developmental Delay From Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023) · cites this paper as Valicenti-McDermott et al. (2015)
The level of parenting stress found in our study is substantially lower than samples of children with autism diagnoses or undiagnosed autism concerns.
“and substantially lower than samples of children with autism diagnoses or undiagnosed autism concerns (DesChamps et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2014; Valicenti-McDermott et al., 2015).”
From Parenting Stress, Child Social Functioning, and Part C Early Intervention in Predominantly Low-Income Families of Children With or at High Risk for Developmental Delay From Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023) · cites this paper as Valicenti-McDermott et al., 2015
Cites
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“The Aberrant Behavior Checklist(21) is a 58-item symptom checklist for assessing problem behaviors of children and adults with low cognitive functioning and yields subscales of (1) Irritability, Agitation; (2) Lethargy, Social Withdrawal; (3) Stereotypic Behavior; (4) Hyperactivity, Noncompliance; and (5) Inappropriat…”
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Mindfulness-based stress reduction for parents implementing early intervention for Autism: An RCT
Weitlauf, A. S., Broderick, N., Stainbrook, J. A., Taylor, J. L., Herrington, C. G., Nicholson, A. G., Santulli, M., Dykens, E. M., Juárez, A. P., & Warren, Z. E. (2020) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2019-1895k · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Parental stress and resilience in autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome
Pastor-Cerezuela, G., Fernández-Andrés, M.-I., Pérez-Molina, D., & Tijeras-Iborra, A. (2021) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/0192513x20910192 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
A Virtual Resiliency Intervention for Parents of Children with Autism: A Randomized Pilot Trial
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“…of parenting stress levels among parents with developmental concerns aside from autism (DesChamps et al., 2020) and substantially lower than samples of children with autism diagnoses or undiagnosed autism concerns (DesChamps et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2014; Valicenti-McDermott et al., 2015).”
Influential
- Authors
- Valicenti-McDermott, M., Lawson, K., Hottinger, K., Seijo, R., Schechtman, M., Shulman, L., & Shinnar, S.
- Affiliations
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Valicenti-McDermott, Maria
- Venue
- Journal of Child Neurology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-04-10
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 1728-1735
- ISSN
- 0883-0738 (ISSN-L)
- 1708-8283
- OpenAlex
- W1987888176
- Cited by
- 175
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 7.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Neurology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- parental stress, autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, gastrointestinal problems, sleep disorders, maternal ethnicity, maternal nativity, comorbid symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Autistic Disorder, Child, Developmental Disabilities, Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Parents, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress, Psychological, Multivariate Analysis, Logistic Models
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