Parenting Stress in Mothers and Fathers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

A number of studies have demonstrated that parents of children with developmental disabilities experience higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children (e.g. Hodapp et al., 2003; Johnson et al., 2003). Webster and colleagues (2008) found that the scores in the Parenting Stress Index were above 85th percentile in over 40% of parents of children with developmental delay, indicating significant parenting stress. Parental stress is viewed as a complex set of non-specific, persistent and significant challenges associated with one of parents’ most important roles, i.e. taking care of their child. Despite a considerable amount of data on stress in parents of children with disabilities, there is still no consensus on the conceptualization of this phenomenon (Perry, 2004). The theoretical framework adopted in a number of studies is the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). In this approach, stress is a particular type of an individual’s relationship with the environment, which the individual appraises as putting certain demands or overextending his/her resources, and thus threatening his/her well-being (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Parental stress is associated with the type of disability present in the child (Gupta, 2007). A number of authors have reported higher levels of stress in mothers of children with autism compared with mothers of children with other developmental disabilities, e.g. Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, severe intellectual disability (Abbeduto et al., 2004; Weiss, 2002; White & Hastings, 2004), parents of children with special health care needs without developmental problems (Schieve et al., 2007) or typically developing children (BakerEriczén et al., 2005; Smith et al., 2001; Yamada et al., 2007). Tomanik, Harris and Hawkins (2004) found that two-thirds of mothers of children with autism in their study demonstrated elevated stress levels. Another revealing fact is that parents themselves often use the word “stressful” when talking about raising a child with autism (e.g. Gray, 2002a). The present review of research on stress in parents of children with autism covers two main issues. In the first part, the most significant sources of parental stress in this group of parents are discussed and the results of research on stress profiles in mothers and fathers are presented. The second part offers an outline of individual determinants of parental stress, associated with personal characteristics of the parent (e.g., their sense of coherence, coping styles and strategies). Conclusion contains a brief account of the consequences of parental stress and potential implications of studies on stress for clinical practice.