Predictors of maternal stress in pre-school and school-aged children with autism

ABSTRACT

Background: Mothers of children with autism experience high levels of stress. However, little is known about whether maternal stressors differ across children of different ages.

Method: This study investigated stressors in mothers of 29 pre-school-aged and 27 school-aged children with autism. Correlation and regression analyses were used to determine if maternal stressors differed between the two age groups.

Results: Findings revealed no difference in maternal stress levels across the two age groups; however, stressors for each age group were different. Stressors in the school-aged group were related to repetitive behaviours, sensory sensitivities, and problematic behaviours, while stressors in the pre-school-aged group were mainly related to adaptive behaviours.

Conclusions: These findings are informative for practitioners and highlight the need for tailored supports and therapies for mothers of children with autism of different ages.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• maternal stress
• behavioural problems
• sensory processing
• adaptive behaviours
• repetitive behaviours

Acknowledgments

The authors would also like to thank the families who participated in the project and the staff from KU Marcia Burgess ASELCC in Liverpool who assisted with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Lidan Zheng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8639-4279

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Australian Government through the Child and Family Outcomes Study. LZ was supported by an Australian Post-graduate Award and acknowledges the financial support of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres program.