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Are we on the Same Page: a DyadicAnalysis of Parental Stress, Support, and Family Quality of Life on Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Family systems are dynamic and interconnected, yet very limited research has considered both fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of family support, stress and Family Quality of Life (FQOL) in a dynamic manner, especially in the Chinese context. The current study examines the association between parenting stress, FQOL and family support using a dyadic approach. We employed the actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) to analyze a sample (N = 219 dyads) of Chinese fathers’ and mothers’ of children with autism spectrum disorder. Results suggested a strong actor effect of family support on decreasing stress and improving FQOL for mother and father respectively. However, the partner effect was largely contrasted with mothers’ perceived family support and positively associated with fathers’ FQOL, and fathers’ perceived family support negatively associated with mothers’ FQOL. There were no mediating effects of stress on partners’ perceived support on FQOL. Despite being in a family system, the contrast pattern (opposite direction of the effects) between mothers and fathers suggest large discrepancies and perceptions, which may be due to different family roles and parenting involvement. Policy and practical implications are provided.

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Funding

This research was supported by 2018 Bei**g Social Science 16SRB012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA

    Songtian Zeng, Angela K. Stone-MacDonald & Zachary W. Price

  2. New Mexico State University, Carlsbad, NM, USA

    Hongxia Zhao

  3. Department of Special Education | Education Research Center for Children with ASD, Bei**g Normal University, Rm 408, YingDong Building, **n Jie Kou Wai Da Jie #19, Bei**g, China

    **aoyi Hu

  4. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    James D. Lee

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  1. Songtian Zeng
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Correspondence to **aoyi Hu.

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All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The manuscript is supported by the 2018 Bei**g Social Science Fund 16SRB012.

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Zeng, S., Zhao, H., Hu, X. et al. Are we on the Same Page: a DyadicAnalysis of Parental Stress, Support, and Family Quality of Life on Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Dev Phys Disabil 33, 599–618 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-020-09761-x

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