Psychological Stress of Parents of Children with ASD: Do Parenting Styles and Parental Involvement Matter?

Background: There are 2 million children with ASD in China (per China Disabled Persons’ Federation statistics), and their education has drawn much government and scholars' attention in China. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face significant psychological pressures and challenges related to their child's rehabilitation. However, limited research exists on how to assist parents of children with ASD in decreasing their psychological stress. Consequently, investigating the factors that influence the psychological stress experienced by these parents is of great importance. This study aims to examine the relationship between parenting styles, parental involvement, and psychological stress among parents of children with ASD in mainland China.

Methods: To assess these variables, A demographic sheet, the Parenting Style Index, the Parental Involvement Scale, and the Psychological Stress Questionnaire were completed by 546 Chinese parents of children with ASD. Their mean age was 40, 74.5% were female, and 89% had a month household income below $3000.

The reliability values for the three inventories mentioned above were first estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, after which confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted via MPLUS 8.3 to test their validity. Furthermore, descriptive statistics were calculated. In addition, we confirmed the relationship between the different variables through Spearman's correlation test. After that, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to test the associations between the variables.

Results: First, three scales have good reliability and validity among parents of children with ASD. Second, parental styles have positive effect on parenting involvement but have negative impact on psychological stress. In other words, parents with more favorable parenting styles tended to exhibit better parental involvement and lower levels of psychological stress. Additionally, the mediating role of one dimension of parenting involvement (anxiety and over-protection) was observed between parenting styles and psychological stress.

Implications: These results suggest that promoting appropriate parenting styles and encouraging parental involvement among parents of children with ASD may help alleviate psychological stress. The implications of this research extend to the field of inclusive education, providing valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and social workers.