Examining Differences in Parenting Stress, Parenting Efficacy, and Household Context among Mothers of Youth with Autism and/or ADHD

Parents of youth with neurodevelopmental disorders experience unique stressors in family functioning when compared to parents neurotypical youth. A paucity research, however, has examined differences parenting experiences across families varying disorder presentations. This paper focuses on two common and frequently co-occurring conditions: autism spectrum attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD). In this study, we stress, efficacy, the household context a sample 90 mothers adolescents ages 11–16 years (1) autism, (2) ADHD, or (3) clinically-elevated ADHD symptoms (Autism + ADHD). Our findings demonstrated all three domains these diagnostic groups. Mothers Autism group endorsed greater stress than alone group. Parenting efficacy were poorest (i.e., low high chaos) among significantly Given our results, highlight importance accounting for symptomatology populations research clinical practice. will help accurately capture needs system make appropriate treatment recommendations that leverage families’ strengths are sensitive stressors.