Mental health, broad autism phenotype and psychological inflexibility in mothers of young children with autism spectrum disorder in Australia: A cross-sectional survey
Abstract
Lay abstract Mothers of children with autism tend to have poorer mental health outcomes compared to most mothers. Lack of social support, parenting challenges and relationship difficulties are more common for mothers of children with autism and can all affect maternal mental health. Mothers of children with autism are also more likely to have some autistic features, called the broad autism phenotype, that can contribute to poorer mental health; however, how these factors relate to one another are unclear. This study found that mothers who were less flexible in their thinking and behaviour and had more difficult parenting experiences tended to have poorer mental health. Mothers with more autistic features were less flexible in their thinking and behaviour, which, in turn, was linked to greater symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Mothers with greater autistic features also reported more difficult parenting experiences, which was in turn linked with greater symptoms of anxiety and depression. This study suggests that supporting mothers of young children with autism to manage parenting challenges and become more flexible with their thinking and behaviour could help to improve their mental health.
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A crucial gap exists in understanding the dynamics among mindfulness, psychological inflexibility, and psychological distress in parents of school-aged children.
“However, the scientific literature has begun to focus on parents [22, 32], and a crucial gap exists in understanding the dynamics among mindfulness, psychological inflexibility, and psychological distress (anxiety and depression) in parents of school-aged children.”
From Psychological inflexibility mediates the relationship between mindfulness and psychological distress in Peruvian parents with school age children. (2026) · cites this paper as [22]
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Ο ευρύτερος φαινότυπος του αυτισμού στους γονείς παιδιών με αυτισμό
Καζαντζίδου, Π., Κωσταρέλλη, Β., Παπανικολάου, Γ., & Αντωνοπούλου, Α. (2025) · Psychology · doi:10.12681/psy_hps.40443
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AAPdN Virtual Conference – Accepted Abstracts
Aylward, S. A. (2022) · Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology · doi:10.1007/s40817-022-00122-4
Carneiro, R., Boschemeier, A. G. E., & Cejas, M. (2021) · Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences · doi:10.21057/10.21057/repamv15n1.2021.40443
“Μητέρες παιδιών με ΔΑΦ έχουν βρεθεί να είναι λιγότερο ευέλικτες στη σκέψη και τη συμπεριφορά, με αυξημένα ποσοστά κατάθλιψης και γονικού άγχους (Kulasinghe et al., 2021).”
- Authors
- Kulasinghe, K., Whittingham, K., & Mitchell, A. E.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Kulasinghe, Kavindri
- Venue
- Autism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-01-28
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1187-1202
- ISSN
- 1362-3613 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7005
- OpenAlex
- W3122969313
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 2.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Autism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Queensland Graduate School Scholarship
- Children’s Hospital Foundation Early Career Fellowship (50223)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, broader autism phenotype, maternal mental health, psychological inflexibility, mothers of autistic children, parental stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, adult attachment styles, social support, mediation, parental experiences
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Mental Health, Mothers, Phenotype, Stress, Psychological, Parenting
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