Parents of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Parental perspectives and experiences

A paucity of research exists regarding driving skills and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The current study sought to gain a better understanding of driving and ASD by surveying parents/caregivers of adolescents/young adults with ASD who were currently attempting, or had previously attempted, to learn to drive. Respondents included 123 parents/caregivers of adolescents/young adults with ASD. The results indicate that learning to drive presents a substantial challenge for individuals with ASD; complex driving demands (e.g., multitasking) may be particularly problematic. Respondents provided suggestions that may be useful to others who seek to teach these skills. The survey results provided guidance for next steps in the study of driving with ASD.;Parents of children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) report significant levels of stress, which are influenced by externalizing behaviors in the children. Stress renders everyone, including parents, more vulnerable to the adoption of maladaptive coping strategies, including substance use. Using data from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to study the relationship between parental substance use and stress in parents of children with one child diagnosed with an ASD. According to the literature, stress in parents of children with an ASD originates from two primary sources—child behavior and parent vulnerability; therefore, the researchers operationalized the concept of parent stress by creating a construct comprised of child challenging behaviors and parental vulnerability to stress. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) captured problem behaviors exhibited by the child, and the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) indicated parent vulnerability. Substance use data were analyzed from the SSC Substance Use History Form and consolidated into three categories—tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and illegal substance use. Maternal and paternal data were analyzed separately. Results of MANOVAs yielded statistically significant findings between the predictor variables (child problem behaviors and parental endorsement of broader autism phenotype (BAP) traits) and paternal and maternal tobacco use, as well as alcohol consumption. Follow-up analyses using discriminant function analysis (DFA) yielded divergent profiles among groups, suggesting that child problem behavior and parental endorsement of BAP traits accounted for differing levels of variance dependent on the substance. Although analyses bore statistically significant findings, small effect sizes suggest the need for further research.;The ever-increasing prevalence rate of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) demands a more thorough understanding of the etiology of the disorder. ASD is considered one of the most heritable neuropsychiatric disorders according to extant twin and family studies; the complexities of ASD, however, encumber genetic investigation. Revolutionary advances in genetic research technology have enabled recent progress in the isolation of specific genes, yet the genetic liability for the full spectrum of phenotypic manifestations remains elusive.;Recent research employs the concept of the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP), which refers to a milder but similar presentation of traits associated with ASD in the undiagnosed relatives of individuals diagnosed with the disorder. Its application facilitates the study of genetic effects of ASD as it (a) allows for larger sample sizes by including diagnosed and undiagnosed relatives and (b) emphasizes the isolation of specific traits, rather than a cluster of traits in the full condition of ASD, to detect underlying genes. Empirical evidence suggests that the BAP Questionnaire (BAPQ) demonstrates psychometric properties superior to the other self-report measures. To contribute invaluable evidence regarding the validity of the BAPQ, the current study uses the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) method to test the assumption of model invariance across genders of the BAPQ. Model Invariance refers to the notion that the measurement and structural properties of an instrument should not vary across genders if the instrument is expected to measure the same information for each.;The current study yielded results that upheld model invariance at each level of parameter constraint—configural, metric, and structural—according to the CFI change statistic. While the current study provided evidence to support model invariance across genders of the BAPQ, the Model Fit Indices at each level of parameter constraint suggested limited goodness-of-fit between the proposed model and the sample.;The exploratory analyses of the current study attempted to identify alternate factor structure models to improve the goodness-of-fit between the model and the sample but ultimately supported the three-factor structure model proposed by the BAPQ developers, as it is the most parsimonious model to uphold model invariance, despite the limitations of goodness-of-fit.