Families of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

2017

IJPS

Stress is an extremely serious symptom in the care of an autistic child and it deteriorates mainly in women and depending on the seriousness of the autism symptoms. As a result, physical and mental health problems are caused in the children's carers, having as a consequence the attack on family resilience. Social support, standard or non-standard, seems that it can be related to the parents' reduced stress levels as well as to an increase in resilience, even though not all researches agree on this conclusion. The correlation of these parameters in this study comes from a wider quantitative research, the sample of which were the parents of 312 autistic children in Greece, all of them couples, namely 624 men and women, divided in equal numbers. The scales' correlations in this research showed a strong correlation of the family communication and problem solving with the utilization of resources that concern the social and financial field, and also with important management strategies of autism, such as maintaining a positive outlook and the ability to make meaning of adversities.

Section: The Stress Of Raising An Autistic Childsupporting

confidence: 71%

Investigation of the Correlation of Family Resilience of Parents with a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Parenting Stress and Social Support

2017

IJPS

“…These are the offensive behavior, the reduced mental functioning, the physical limitations, the lack of self-sufficiency skills, as well as the limited social skills. Moreover, according to Van Bourgondien, Dawkins and Marcus (2014), both the fathers and the mothers report an increased number of daily, stressful events, in particular, however, the mothers of autistic adults mention involvement in disagreements, stressful situations in the house and at work, as well as stressed caused by family members or friends more often than the mothers of children without developmental problems. Therefore, it is clear that the whole situation burdens the women far more than the men, a conclusion which the findings of our research are absolutely consistent with.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It must be pointed out that the impact of the child's age was expected to be stronger, given the view that higher levels of stress have been found in mothers with older children (Kotsopoulos, 2014), as well as more anger and less effort to address the stress causing factors (Van Bourgondien, Dawkins, & Marcus, 2014). However, the weak relation of the age to the parents' family connectedness and family spirituality is not a non-confirmed conclusion in previous bibliography because the view that significant impact of the child's age is not found on negative feelings of the parents has also been published (Almansour et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has already been pointed out that higher levels of stress have been measured in mothers of autistic children of older age (Kotsopoulos, 2014). Van Bourgondien, Dawkins and Marcus (2014) observe that when the children with autism enter adolescence, their mothers seem to occasionally experience an increased reduction in the effort to face the stressful factors and more anger than the mothers of toddlers. And the use of more inefficient strategies of autism management in the period of adolescence of the young person with autism, is possibly a sign of the typical stressful factors that are related to the adolescent's care, but it is possible that they also reflect an increased sense of control that the parent may have towards an older autistic young person than towards a child.…”

Section: Child's Sex and Agementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Importance of the Sex of the Parents and of the Sex and Age of the Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to Family Resilience

2017

JEDP

The resilience of parents of children with autism is considered as one substantial strategy to address the problems in raising a child with autism spectrum disorders. In this article, the results of the investigation of the relation between the parents' family resilience and their sex, as well as their children's sex and age, are shown. The parents of 312 autistic children in Greece, all in couples, namely 624 men and women, consisted the population sample. It was considered that, at least regarding the factor of the sex, the research would result in covering some research gaps of the bibliography, such as the interest in the fathers, provided that research usually investigates the female side, ignoring, to a great extent, the paternal behavior. Moreover, it was believed that the research can practically contribute as a guide for the inclusion of the parents themselves in the therapeutic interventions of autism and highlight the importance of dividing their responsibilities in the care of the autistic child, which is usually placed on the shoulders of women, namely on the mothers, with every possible consequence on their mental, emotional and physical health. The correlation of resilience and sex also took into account the parameter of the children's sex, as well as the issue of their age, in order to draw conclusions also about the importance of these factors of impact on the parents' resilience.

“…Our paper in the theoretical part has not dealt with the said syndrome, nonetheless, it can be said that the findings in the empirical part which concern it are indirectly confirmed by what is written in the theory on the importance of the different degrees of autistic behavior. The seriousness of the symptoms has been reported as being one of the most vital factors causing stress in the family environment, in fact, these act also as causes for physical burden, such as aches on the head and on the back and also myalgiae, whereas they relate to higher fatigue percentages (Van Bourgondien, Dawkins, & Marcus, 2014). Apart from the stress increase, they reduce also the sense of self-effectiveness in the parents and they affect negatively the social connectedness (Batool & Khurshid, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accurate Diagnosis of the Syndrome in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Parents’ Resilience

2017

JEDP

Autism is considered to be a much more serious syndrome than other developmental disorders and according to studies it affects the resilience of the parents with an autistic child to a larger degree, comparatively. In this article the results of the investigation between the family resilience of the parents and their child's diagnosis of the syndrome are presented, as it was regarded that, taking into consideration the autism syndrome and Asperger syndrome, the difficulties in a row of levels would be particularly more severe in diagnosed cases of autism. The parents of 312 autistic children in Greece, all of them couples, namely 624 men and women constituted the population sample. It was found that compared to Asperger syndrome at least, in cases of an autistic child's upbringing, the parents' resilience is more fragile, their stress higher and certainly the social support they receive is comparatively reduced.