Social impairment of children with autism spectrum disorder affects parental quality of life in different ways

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 266; pp. 168 - 174
• Main Authors: Wang, Ying, Xiao, Lu, Chen, Run-Sen, Chen, Chen, Xun, Guang-Lei, Lu, Xiao-Zi, Shen, Yi-Dong, Wu, Ren-Rong, Xia, Kun, Zhao, Jing-Ping, Ou, Jian-Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Adult; Autism spectrum disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - epidemiology; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Child; Child Development; Child, Preschool; China - epidemiology; Fathers - psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Mediation analysis; Mothers - psychology; Parental quality of life; Parents - psychology; Quality of Life - psychology; Sobel test; Social Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Social Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Social Behavior Disorders - psychology; Social impairment; China; Parental quality of life; Social impairment; Sobel test; Autism spectrum disorder; Mediation analysis
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.05.057

1ASD families had heavier childcare burden and poorer quality of life than TD families.2Mothers had heavier childcare burden than fathers both in ASD and TD children.3Childcare burden mediated the effect of child social impairment of ASD children on maternal quality of life, fathers not. This study evaluated the life quality of Chinese parents of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their association with child social impairment and childcare burden. The participants included 406 families of children with ASD and 513 families with typically developing (TD) children. The findings indicated that parents in the ASD group had a lower quality of life than parents in the TD group, whereas only mother of children with ASD experienced a greater childcare burden than mother with TD children. Lower parental quality of life were associated with higher social impairment of children. To further clarify the correlativity of child social impairment, parental quality of life and childcare burden, the mediation analyses were conducted. The results showed that childcare burden mediated the influence of child social impairment on maternal quality of life, while it has no mediating effect on fathers. It implies that social impairment of children affects parental quality of life in different ways.