Liang Kaixin, Lai Lam Kelly Ka, Huang Liuyue, Lin Xiuyun, Wang Zhiyong, Liu Honghai, Chi Peilian
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
Autism. 2025 Jan;29(1):53-63. doi: 10.1177/13623613241286683. Epub 2024 Oct 5.
Parenting can be challenging for any parent, particularly for those parenting autistic children. Research has shown that being kind, accepting, and mindful toward oneself during suffering, a concept known as self-compassion, can help enhance mental health. However, it is not fully understood how self-compassion benefits parenting experiences for parents of autistic children. Therefore, we conducted a study involving 178 parents of autistic children and 178 of autistic children to explore the associations between self-compassion, mental health, and parenting experiences. We found that parents of autistic children reported less self-compassion compared to parents of non-autistic children. For both groups of parents, self-compassion was linked to lower levels of ill-being and parenting stress, as well as higher levels of well-being and parenting competence. In parents of non-autistic children, both ill-being and well-being played a mediating role in the relationship between self-compassion and parenting experiences. However, in parents of autistic children, only well-being was found to mediate this relationship. These findings emphasize the importance of self-compassion and well-being in improving parenting experiences for parents of autistic children.
为人父母对任何家长来说都具有挑战性，尤其是对于那些养育自闭症孩子的家长。研究表明，在痛苦中对自己友善、接纳并保持正念，即自我同情这一概念，有助于增进心理健康。然而，目前尚不完全清楚自我同情如何使自闭症孩子的家长受益于养育体验。因此，我们开展了一项研究，涉及178名自闭症孩子的家长和178名自闭症孩子，以探究自我同情、心理健康和养育体验之间的关联。我们发现，与非自闭症孩子的家长相比，自闭症孩子的家长表现出较少的自我同情。对于两组家长而言，自我同情都与较低水平的不适和养育压力以及较高水平的幸福感和养育能力相关。在非自闭症孩子的家长中，不适和幸福感在自我同情与养育体验的关系中均起到中介作用。然而，在自闭症孩子的家长中，仅发现幸福感起到这种中介作用。这些发现强调了自我同情和幸福感在改善自闭症孩子家长养育体验方面的重要性。
