Department of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Res Dev Disabil. 2021 Apr;111:103875. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103875. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify predictors of the mental health of parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A convenience sample of 658 parents residing in New Zealand completed an online questionnaire. Participants responded to questions probing parent and child characteristics, child ASD severity (the Autism Impact Measure: AIM), parenting stress (the Autism Parenting Stress Index: APSI), and parent mental health (the General Health Questionnaire: GHQ-28). The results indicated that the majority of the parents in our sample have reached clinical levels of psychiatric distress, in particular anxiety. Parent and child characteristics were poor predictors of parental mental health problems. Parenting stress, however, was found to be a significant predictor, also acting as a mediator variable between child ASD symptom severity and parental mental health problems. Our findings are interpreted in relation to their significance to clinical practice.
本横断面研究旨在确定自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童父母心理健康的预测因素。在新西兰居住的 658 名家长作为方便样本，完成了一份在线问卷。参与者回答了关于家长和孩子特征、孩子 ASD 严重程度（自闭症影响测量：AIM）、育儿压力（自闭症父母压力指数：APSI）和父母心理健康（一般健康问卷：GHQ-28）的问题。结果表明，我们样本中的大多数父母都达到了临床水平的精神困扰，特别是焦虑。父母和孩子的特征是父母心理健康问题的不良预测因素。然而，育儿压力被发现是一个重要的预测因素，它也在儿童 ASD 症状严重程度和父母心理健康问题之间起着中介变量的作用。我们的发现与它们对临床实践的意义有关。
