Current research gives only limited insight into the effectiveness of quality-enhancing interventions for people with PIMD. To foster evidence-based practice, further studies of larger groups and with more robust designs are warranted. The potential differential effects associated with client characteristics and the context of the implementation should also be considered.

Parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face specific challenges in parenting, but concrete parenting behavior has never been properly investigated in these families. This exploratory questionnaire study compared parenting behaviors among mothers of children and adolescents with ASD (n = 552) and without ASD (n = 437) and examined associations between child behavior problems and parenting behavior. Results showed that mothers of children with ASD reported significantly lower scores on Rules and Discipline and higher scores on Positive Parenting, Stimulating the Development, and Adapting the Environment. Age was differently related to parenting behavior in the ASD versus control group. Furthermore, distinctive correlation patterns between parenting behavior and externalizing or internalizing behavior problems were found for both groups.

The findings suggest that there is a need to look for a better conceptualization and assessment of the variables under investigation.

Although parents of children with ASD face specific challenges in parenting, only a few studies have empirically investigated parenting behaviors among these parents. The current study examined differences in parenting behaviors between mothers of school-aged children with ASD (n = 30) and mothers of typically developing children (n = 39), using both an observational measure and a self-report questionnaire. Results indicated that mothers of children with ASD obtained significantly lower scores on Sensitivity and Provision of structure as measured during the observation. They reported significantly higher scores on Material rewarding and Adapting the environment on the questionnaire. When controlling for parenting stress, the group differences on Sensitivity and Material rewarding did not remain significant.

Research has clearly demonstrated that behavior problems are common among children with ASD. These co-occurring behavior problems place children with ASD and their families at risk for a range of negative outcomes. This questionnaire study aimed to investigate whether and how age, gender, and communication difficulties at the child level and parenting behaviors at the family level are associated with externalizing and internalizing problems among children with ASD (nn = 206) and without ASD (n = 187) aged 6-n = 187) aged 6-12 years. Results indicated that pragmatic language difficulties of the child and negative controlling parenting behaviors both made a significant and unique contribution to externalizing behavior problems for the ASD group. In the control group, chronological age and pragmatic language difficulties were the most robust concurrent predictors of externalizing problems. With regard to internalizing problems, pragmatic language difficulties and ASD adapted parenting behaviors were significant predictors for both the ASD and control group.