Parenting Stress and Hope Among Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Race As a Moderator

Background and Purpose

Research has shown that raising children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has negative impacts on family functioning and parents’ physical and mental health. However, in recent years, studies have focused on positive outcomes and ways to increase psychological well-being of parents of children with ASD. A recent qualitative study demonstrated that hope was a significant factor in dealing with child care challenges among Asian immigrant parents of children with ASD. The current study advances that study by examining whether hope is a prominent factor among Asian immigrant parents of children with ASD. It was hypothesized that (a) hope would be negatively associated with parenting stress, and (b) the relationship between hope and parenting stress would be moderated by race.

Methods

The data for the current study were obtained from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which surveyed households with children ages 0 to 17 years. To screen the sample of parents of children with ASD, we selected the survey variable autism_16 (n = 1,131). The major study variables were (1) one item for hope (HOPEFUL), ranging from 1 (none of the time) to 4 (all of the time); (2) one aggregate item of three indicators for parenting stress (ParAgg_ct), ranging from 1 to 3; (3) Race (P_race), measured as Asians, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Whites, and non-Hispanic Blacks. All analyses were completed using Stata, v. 15. A multivariate regression model was used to examine the main effects of hope and parenting stress, as well as whether race moderated the relationship between hope and parenting stress.

Results

Higher hope was associated with lower parenting stress (β=-.27, p < .01). Product terms created to examine whether race moderated the relationship between the two variables were significant. The interaction between hope and Asian race was significant (β=-.42, p < .01). The interaction between hope and Hispanic race was significant (β=.26, p < .01).  The simple slope to examine regression lines for Asian race differed significantly from zero, suggesting that higher hope was associated with lower parenting stress among Asian parents. The simple slope for Hispanic race differed significantly from zero, suggesting that higher hope was associated with lower parenting stress among Hispanic parents. Each simple slope test revealed a significant negative association between parenting stress and hope, but hope was more strongly related to parenting stress among Asians than among non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics.

Conclusions and Implications:

Hope was associated with psychological well-being in parents of children with ASD. The relationship between parenting stress and hope was moderated by race. Asian parents showed the strongest relationships between parental stress and hope among the four racial/ethnic groups. This suggests that culturally competent social work practitioners could focus on addressing hope when dealing with Asian parents with children with ASD.