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Psychological Well‐Being and Parent‐Child Relationship Quality in Relation to Child Autism: An Actor‐Partner Modeling Approach
Author(s) -
Hickey Emily J.,
Hartley Sigan L.,
Papp Lauren
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/famp.12432
Subject(s) - psychology , autism spectrum disorder , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , autism , structural equation modeling , partner effects , association (psychology) , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , biology
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) often report poor psychological well‐being, including a high level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms. Little is known about the extent to which poor parent psychological well‐being alters the emotional quality of the parent‐child relationship in a context of child ASD . This study examined the association between actor (one's own) and partner (one's partner's) level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms and the emotional quality of the parent‐child relationship using a Five Minute Speech Sample ( FMSS ) in 150 families of children with ASD , aged 5–12 years (85.7% male). Mothers and fathers were aged 38.69 ( SD = 5.62) and 40.76 ( SD = 6.19), respectively; 76% of mothers and 68% of fathers had a college degree. Structural equation modeling, using Analysis of Moment Structures software, was used to test Actor‐Partner Interdependence Models. Results indicated that mother's level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms were associated with her own FMSS Warmth and Criticism toward the child with ASD 12 months later in negative and positive directions. Mother's level of parenting stress was also negatively associated with father's FMSS Warmth toward the child with ASD 12 months later. Finally, father's level of parenting stress was positively associated with his FMSS Criticism toward the child with ASD . Overall, findings indicate that the mother‐child and father‐child relationship are both impacted by parent psychological well‐being in families of children with ASD ; however, actor effects are stronger for mothers and partner effects were only found for fathers. Implications for interventions are discussed.