Post-traumatic growth in Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: Statuses and personal factors

Abstract

This study aimed to characterise post-traumatic growth among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the related factors. Participants were 396 parents of children with autism from Guangdong Province, China (female = 65.15 %; mean age = 33.67 years, SD = 2.89 years). Following regression analysis, results indicated that parents of children with ASD were above average in their post-traumatic growth; particularly those with children with milder symptoms and of higher family income levels. First-married parents had significantly higher post-traumatic growth than the Not first-married (i.e., remarried, divorced, widowed). Parents reporting with social support, quiet ego, and psychological capital had higher post-traumatic growth. From these findings, we conclude that post-traumatic growth is a resilience factor in raising children with ASD and that social capital is important for the well-being of parents of children with ASD.

Keywords:

• children with autism
• current situation
• influence factors
• parents
• post-traumatic growth

Conflict of interests

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Guangdong Provincial innovation project "Research on the Process, Characteristics, and Psychological Mechanism of Post-traumatic Growth of Parents of Autistic Children" (2022WTSCX065); and by the Open Fund Project "Research on the Post-traumatic Growth of Parents of Autistic Children from the Perspective ofPsychological Capital Theory" (TJ202106).