Abstract
The current study explore the relationship between various forms of experienced stress (general stress and parenting stress) and both health-related quality of life (QoL) and reported physical health symptoms. One hundred and twenty-two mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder responded to an online survey included questionnaires on general stress, parenting stress, health-related QoL, and physical symptoms. The results suggested that perceived general stress as associated with both a reduced health-related QoL and more physical symptoms. However, parenting stress was only associated with a reduced health-related QoL, and not with physical health. These results are discussed in relation to the complex impact of prolonged and predictable parenting stress on the cortisol response and immune system.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aberg, K. M., Radeck, K. A., Choi, E. H., Kim, D. K., Demerjian, M., Hupe, M., & Elias, P. M. (2007). Psychological stress downregulates epidermal antimicrobial peptide expression and increases severity of cutaneous infections in mice. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 117, 3339–3349.
Adam, Y., Meinlschmidt, G., & Lieb, R. (2013). Associations between mental disorders and the common cold in adults: A population-based cross-sectional study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 74, 69–73.
Allik, H., Larsson, J. O., & Smedje, H. (2006). Health-related quality of life in parents of school-age children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 4, 1–8.
APA. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual-text revision (DSM-IV-TRim). American Psychiatric Association.
Barrington, W. E., Stafford, M., Hamer, M., Beresford, S. A., Koepsell, T., & Steptoe, A. (2014). Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, perceived neighborhood factors, and cortisol responses to induced stress among healthy adults. Health and Place, 27, 120–126.
Blacher, J., & McIntyre, L. L. (2006). Syndrome specificity and behavioural disorders in young adults with intellectual disability: Cultural differences in family impact. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 50, 184–198.
Boyd, B. A. (2002). Examining the relationship between stress and lack of social support in mothers of children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 17, 208–215.
Bremner, J. D. (1999). Does stress damage the brain? Biological Psychiatry, 45, 797–805.
Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., & Miller, G. E. (2007). Psychological stress and disease. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298(14), 1685–1687.
Dhabhar, F. S. (2014). Effects of stress on immune function: The good, the bad, and the beautiful. Immunologic Research, 58, 193–210.
Dickerson, S. S., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004). Acute stressors and cortisol responses: A theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 355.
Dykens, E. M., & Lambert, W. (2013). Trajectories of diurnal cortisol in mothers of children with autism and other developmental disabilities: Relations to health and mental health. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43, 2426–2434.
Eisenhower, A. S., Baker, B. L., & Blacher, J. (2005). Preschool children with intellectual disability: Syndrome specificity, behaviour problems, and maternal well-being. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49, 657–671.
Emerson, E. (2003). Mothers of children and adolescents with intellectual disability: Social and economic situation, mental health status, and the self-assessed social and psychological impact of the child’s difficulties. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47, 385–399.
Epel, E. S., Blackburn, E. H., Lin, J., Dhabhar, F. S., Adler, N. E., Morrow, J. D., et al. (2004). Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences, 101, 17312–17315.
Friedrich, W. N., Greenberg, M. T., & Crnic, K. (1983). A short-form of the questionnaire on resources and stress. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 41–48.
Gallagher, A., Phillpis, A. C., Drayson, M. T., & Carroll, D. (2009). Parental caregivers of children with developmental disabilities mount a poor antibody response to pneumococcal vaccination. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 23, 338–346.
Glaser, R., Sheridan, J., Malarkey, W. B., MacCallum, R. C., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (2000). Chronic stress modulates the immune response to a pneumoccocal pneumonia vaccine. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 804–807.
Goin-Kochel, R. P., Mackintosh, V. H., & Myers, B. J. (2006). How many doctors does it take to make an autism spectrum diagnosis. Autism, 5, 439–451.
Goldberg, D. P., & Hillier, V. F. (1979). A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 9, 139–145.
Grout, P., & Barber, V. E. (1976). Cold sores—An epidemiological survey. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 26, 428–434.
Hartley, S. L., Barker, E. T., Seltzer, M. M., Floyd, F., Greenberg, J., Orsmond, G., & Bolt, D. (2010). The relative risk and timing of divorce in families of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 449.
Hass, H. S., & Schauenstein, K. (2001). Immunity, hormones, and the brain. Allergy, 56, 470–477.
Hedov, G., Anneren, G., & Wikblad, K. (2000). Self-perceived health in Swedish parents of children with Down’s syndrome. Quality of Life Research, 9, 415–422.
Heikkinen, T., & Järvinen, A. (2003). The common cold. Lancet, 361, 51–59.
Hill, E. L., Jones, A. P., Lang, J., Yarker, J., & Patterson, A. (2014). Employment experiences of parents of children with ASD or ADHD: An exploratory study. International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 3, 166–176.
Irwin, M., Patterson, T., Smith, T. L., Caldwell, C., Brown, S. A., Gillin, J. C., & Grant, I. (1990). Reduction of immune function in life stress and depression. Biological Psychiatry, 27, 22–30.
Kim, S. H., Baik, S. H., Park, C. S., Kim, S. J., Choi, S. W., & Kim, S. E. (2011a). Reduced striatal dopamine D2 receptors in people with Internet addiction. NeuroReport, 22, 407–411.
Kim, H. C., Park, S. G., Leem, J. H., Jung, D. Y., & Hwang, S. H. (2011b). Depressive symptoms as a risk factor for the common cold among employees: A 4-month follow-up study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 71, 194–196.
Knapp, M., Romeo, R., & Beecham, J. (2009). Economic cost of autism in the UK. Autism, 13, 317–336.
Lecavalier, L., Leone, S., & Wiltz, J. (2006). The impact of behaviour problems on caregiver stress in young people with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50(3), 172–183.
Levenstein, S., Prantera, C., Varvo, V., Scribano, M. L., Berto, E., Luzi, C., & Andreoli, A. (1993). Development of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire: A new tool for psychosomatic research. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 37, 19–32.
Lovell, B., Moss, M., & Wetherell, M. A. (2012). With a little help from my friends: Psychological, endocrine and health corollaries of social support in parental caregivers of children with autism or ADHD. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33, 682–687.
Marmot, M., & Bell, R. (2012). Fair society, healthy lives. Public Health, 126, S4–S10.
McClelland, D. C., Floor, E., Davidson, R. J., & Saron, C. (1980). Stressed power motivation, sympathetic activation, immune function, and illness. Journal of Human Stress, 6, 11–19.
McEwen, B. S. (2004). Protection and damage from acute and chronic stress: Allostasis and allostatic overload and relevance to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1032, 1–7.
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., & Zhou, E. S. (2007). If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 25.
Montes, G., & Halterman, J. S. (2008). Child care problems and employment among families with preschool-aged children with autism in the United States. Pediatrics, 122, e202–e208.
Mugno, D., Ruta, L., D’Arrigo, V. G., & Mazzone, L. (2007). Impairment of quality of life in parents of children and adolescents with pervasive developmental disorder. Health Quality of Life Outcomes, 5, 22.
Osborne, L. A., Bindemann, N., Noble, J. G., & Reed, P. (2014). Different perspectives regarding quality of life in chronically ill and healthy individuals. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 9, 971–979.
Osborne, L. A., McHugh, L., Saunders, J., & Reed, P. (2008). Parenting stress reduces the effectiveness of early teaching interventions for autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(6), 1092–1103.
Osborne, L. A., & Reed, P. (2009a). The role of the family in autistic spectrum conditions: Theory and practical implications. Handbook of parenting: Styles, stresses, and strategies. New York: Nova Science.
Osborne, L. A., & Reed, P. (2009b). The relationship between parenting stress and behavior problems of children with autistic spectrum disorders. Exceptional Children, 76(1), 54–73.
Osborne, L. A., & Reed, P. (2010). Stress and self-perceived parenting behaviors of parents of children with autistic spectrum conditions. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 4(3), 405–414.
Reed, P., Vile, R., Osborne, L. A., Romano, M., & Truzoli, R. (2015). Problematic internet usage and immune function. PLoS One, 10(8), e0134538.
Repetti, R. L., Matthews, K. A., & Waldron, I. (1989). Employment and women’s health: Effects of paid employment on women’s mental and physical health. American Psychologist, 44, 1394.
Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J. S., Hong, J., Smith, L. E., Almeida, D. M., Coe, C., et al. (2010). Maternal cortisol levels and behavior problems in adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40, 457–469.
Steptoe, A., & Kivimäki, M. (2012). Stress and cardiovascular disease. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 9, 360–370.
WHO. (2013). Review of the 2012–2013 winter influenza season, northern hemisphere. World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record, 88, 225–232.
Wolf, L. C., Noh, S., Fisman, S. N., & Speechley, M. (1989). Brief report: Psychological effects of parenting stress on parents of autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19, 157–166.
Author Contributions
PR, KS, and LAO designed the study. PR and KS developed the concept for the current paper. KS and PR collected and analysed the data. PR, KS, and LAO wrote sections of the paper. All authors discussed the results and implications and edited the manuscript at all stages.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reed, P., Sejunaite, K. & Osborne, L.A. Relationship Between Self-Reported Health and Stress in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 934–941 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2638-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2638-8