Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome: Relationships between Early Attachment Experiences and Parenting Behaviors

Angus, Jeanne

doi:10.5723/csdc.2013.3.1.001

Child Studies in Diverse Contexts

2013

DOI: 10.5723/csdc.2013.3.1.001

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Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome: Relationships between Early Attachment Experiences and Parenting Behaviors

Jeanne Angus¹

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“…Again, in a study using a sample of 91 married couples, subjects who reported above-average marital satisfaction felt less burdened in parenting their adolescent and adult children with ASD(Hartley et al, 2011). More recently, Eates, Olson, Sullivan, Greenson, Winter,Dawson, and Munson (2013) found that among 46 parents of young children with ASD, parental confidence and ability to manage and reduce behavioural problems in their children built a critical buffer against parenting-related stress Angus (2007). studied 262 parents of children with ASD and identified a strong relationship between marital status (i.e., married or divorced) and parenting behaviours.…”

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Adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder: self perceived traits of autism, marital quality, parenting competency and anxiety symptoms

Lau¹

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are lifelong conditions characterised by sociocommunication deficits and stereotyped behaviours (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). To date, little is known about experiences of adults living with ASD, especially for those who manage to develop couple relationships and become parents (Howlin & Moss, 2012). This research examines the associations between self-perceived traits of autism and marital quality, parenting sense of competency and anxiety symptoms in adults affected by ASD. Uniquely, the sample encompasses 1) adults diagnosed with ASD whose children also have diagnosis of ASD; 2) non-ASD diagnosed parents who have children diagnosed with ASD and; 3) non-ASD parents who have typically developing children. Parents of children diagnosed with ASD are particularly targeted for their susceptibility to tendency towards autism (Bernier, Gerdts, Munson, Dawson, & Estes, 2011), and their distinctively high prevalence of psychiatric illness and marital breakdowns (Benson & Kersh, 2011; Hayes & Watson, 2013). Effects of child versus parental traits of autism were considered simultaneously. The thesis entails five empirical studies of which four have been published in peerreviewed journals and one currently under review. Study 1 (chapter 5) investigated the associations between adult attachment style, marital quality and parenting satisfaction in adults formally diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder/Asperger's Syndrome (AS; a higher functioning variant of ASD). Strikingly, as high as 82% of this group reported insecure adult attachment style as opposed to 22% of non-ASD controls. Interestingly no association between insecure attachment style and marital dissatisfaction was found in the AS group, and their marital satisfaction did not differ from the non-ASD controls. Diagnosis of AS in child, but not in parent, was associated with parenting satisfaction. Study 2 (chapter 6) advanced the research by exploring the link between parental self-perceived traits of autism and parenting sense of efficacy in a significantly large sample of Australian parents (n=346). Interestingly, nearly half (47%) of the parents diagnosed with ASD rated themselves below the recommended diagnostic cutoff on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) whereas about 20% of the non-diagnosed parents of children with ASD scored above the cutoff on the AQ. Low parenting sense of efficacy was noted in undiagnosed mothers who scored highly on the AQ and in fathers who had formal diagnosis of ASD. These findings highlighted the importance of measuring traits of autism in parents of children with ASD and called for a reliable tool for this purpose. Thus Study 3 and Study 4 were devoted to test factorial solutions for the AQ. Study 3 (chapter 7) was based on data from 455 II Australian adults of whom 141 had clinical diagnosis of ASD. Study 4 (chapter 8) drew from 4,192 Taiwanese parents of whom 1,208 had children with ASD. Each study resulted in a factor model (AQ-39 and AQ-Chinese respectively) that demonstrated significantly ...

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Adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder: self perceived traits of autism, marital quality, parenting competency and anxiety symptoms

Lau¹

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Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome: Relationships between Early Attachment Experiences and Parenting Behaviors

Cited by 1 publication

References 33 publications

Adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder: self perceived traits of autism, marital quality, parenting competency and anxiety symptoms

Adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder: self perceived traits of autism, marital quality, parenting competency and anxiety symptoms

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