Browsing by Subject "parenting stress"

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    Empathy in autism spectrum disorder: Predictions from child/adolescent temperament, parenting styles, and parenting stress
    (2019) Ross, Toni Carmen Faith; Malcolm-Smith, Susan; Hamilton, Katie
    Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit definitional impairments in social relatedness; a phenomenon that can be explained, in part, by their deficits in empathy. Despite the extent of these deficits, relatively little is known about which factors promote or impede empathic functioning within this group. To date, studies of neurotypical children and adolescents suggest the explanatory power of temperament, parenting style, and parenting stress; associations which have yet to be adequately explored with ASD. Thus, the overarching aim of this investigation was to test whether the aforementioned intra- and interindividual features would predict empathy amongst children and adolescents with ASD. To account for some of the heterogeneity in ASD, two groups of parent-child dyads were recruited: one comprising male children and adolescents with intact receptive and expressive language (n = 40, M = 7.68 years); the other, males with little to no language use in either domain (n = 40, M = 9.09 years). A third group of parent-child pairs comprising male neurotypical children and adolescents with age-appropriate language functioning was included as a comparison sample (n = 40, M = 9.53 years). Parents completed wellestablished questionnaires pertaining to child/adolescent temperament and empathy, as well as parenting style and parenting stress, primarily via telephonic interviews. Results showed that temperamental regulation and negative affectivity were linked to empathy within the neurotypical group in positive and inverse directions, respectively. Only regulatory processes were positively associated with empathy within the non-verbal ASD group, whilst only negative affectivity was inversely associated to empathy within the verbal ASD group. Further, warm, responsive, autonomy-promoting parenting was positively associated with empathy within the neurotypical group, whilst punitive and lax parenting were inversely associated with empathy. Positive forms of parenting were also found to predict empathy within both ASD groups – though somewhat less so within the verbal ASD group. Perhaps a consequence of the severity of their empathic deficits, lax and permissive parenting techniques were not tied to empathy within the ASD groups. Finally, parenting stress was inversely linked to empathy within the non-verbal ASD and neurotypical groups only. Results highlight that findings obtained within neurotypical samples cannot always be extrapolated to ASD. Results further underscore the need for ASD interventions to adopt a family systems perspective, teaching parents how to perceive and respond to their children in adaptive ways.
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    The health and well-being of caregivers raising children with and without autism spectrum disorder in the South African context
    (2022) Smith, Louise; Harty, Michal; Schlebusch, Liezl
    Background: Children require a nurturing environment to develop optimally and reach their full potential. A critical component of this environment is the health and well-being of caregivers so that they can provide responsive caregiving. It is believed that parents or caregivers of children with ASD will have poorer health and well-being than parents or caregivers of children without ASD. Therefore, parents of children with ASD may require more support to enable them to provide responsive caregiving to these children. Methods: This study was a quantitative study that employed an analytical, comparative design. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a significant difference in the health and well-being of parents with children with ASD and parents of children without ASD in the South African context. Two hundred and eight participants from two schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal completed a paper-based survey containing 3 questionnaires relating to health-related quality of life; stress, anxiety and depression and parental self-efficacy. Parenting constructs such as stress, anxiety and parental self-efficacy are measured and described, and the association between Health-related Quality of Life and constructs such as stress, anxiety and parental self-efficacy is explored. It took place at a special needs school in KZN and mainstream school in the same district. Results: The results of this study demonstrated a poorer HRQOL in some of the areas of parents of a child with ASD compared to parents of a child without ASD. The results from this study demonstrate the importance for health practitioners to focus on the parents' health and well-being as part of the child's intervention. Conclusion: Intervention is mainly child-focussed however it is important for practitioners to understand the caregiver's health and well-being as this will have a positive influence of the child and in turn, lead to successful intervention. It is therefore important to have a family-centred approach. The QOL of the parents or caregivers of children with ASD will improve through support and intervention which will positively impact on the child's development. If the caregiver is receiving the appropriate support, their QOL will improve and they will be able to provide nurturing care that the child needs.