Marital satisfaction, parenting styles, and child outcomes in families of autistic children

Abstract

Theory and research on the general population suggest that parents’ marital relationship quality is associated with children’s emotional and behavioral functioning directly, as well as indirectly, by affecting parenting attitudes and behaviors. However, little has been done to investigate the potential connection among parent marital satisfaction, parenting styles, and outcomes for autistic children. Using longitudinal data collected from 188 couples parenting an autistic child, this study tested the time‐ordered indirect effect of parent marital satisfaction (assessed at Time 1) on the internalizing and externalizing symptoms (assessed at Time 3) of autistic children (originally aged 5–12 years) via parenting styles (assessed at Time 2) using actor–partner interdependence modeling extended to mediation. Results indicated that a lower level of marital satisfaction at Time 1 predicted impaired child outcomes at Time 3 via its impact on parenting style at Time 2. For both parents, lower marital satisfaction predicted more child externalizing symptoms via reports of more authoritarian parenting style. Lower marital satisfaction in mothers at Time 1 was also associated with higher levels of child internalizing symptoms at Time 3 via increased authoritarian parenting in mothers. No partner effects were found. A family‐wide approach that includes support for the parent marital relationship, which may have downstream effects on parenting, is important for promoting optimal emotional and behavioral health in autistic children.

Longitudinal impact of parents’ discrimination experiences on children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms: A 2-year study of families of autistic children

“…Previous studies have demonstrated positive associations among parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict in parents of autistic children (Chan et al, 2018; Greenlee et al, in press; Hickey, Hartley, et al, 2020). Extending this work, our model shows that parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict are interrelated but independent predictors of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms.…”

“…In the present study, we addressed this gap in the literature by investigating whether parents’ discrimination experiences would affect children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms by influencing parental well-being and parent–child and inter-parental relationships. Specifically, we tested a family process model to examine whether parents’ discrimination experiences would heighten children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms by increasing parental depression, harsh parenting, and coparenting conflict, which may co-occur in families of autistic children (Chan et al, 2018; Greenlee et al, in press; Hickey, Hartley, et al, 2020).…”

Happiness in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study

“…Numerous quantitative studies (Higgins et al, 2005;Hoseinnejad et al, 2020) have found that couples with ASD children have lower levels of marital happiness and relationship satisfaction compared with control group couples. The importance of couple satisfaction as a predictor of family functioning (Gau et al, 2012;Greenlee et al, 2022;Pedro et al, 2015) and quality of life (Benson, 2014;Brisini & Solomon, 2020) is well established. Johnson and Piercy's (2017) qualitative study specifically explored the couple intimacy experiences of parents with ASD children and led to the development of a new process model of how couples raising children with ASD negotiate intimacy.…”

Marital Satisfaction and Perceived Family Support in Families of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Dyadic Analysis

“…It has become evident that parents of children with ASD have a low level of relationship satisfaction, which was unrelated to socioeconomic status [ 9 , 10 ]. Lower marital satisfaction influences parenting burden and the quality of the parent–child relationship [ 8 , 11 ], quality of child caregiving and also child externalizing and internalizing symptoms [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], while a good marital relationship is an important resource for dealing with the difficulty in the challenges of raising a child with ASD.…”