The Mediating Effect Of Parenting Self-efficacy And Social Support On The Relationship Between Parenting Stress And Family Quality Of Life In Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

As a social psychology construct,family quality of life is extended from the concept of individual quality of life.It has been studied as one aspect of family adaption of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities,and also adopted as a significant criterion to assess the efficacy of the early intervention,supported programs and services and education-psychological intervention for the family which has a child with autism.Derived from the conceptual framework of family quality of life encompassing individual,family and system characteristics,there is an increasing need to explore the contributing effect of parental functioning on the overall family quality of life.It to some extent is in accord with the standpoint of the ecology of the family system and transactional development model,and echoes the general trend of taking the risk and protective factors together into account to understand the process and mechanism of family adaption of parent caregiving a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities.The study aimed to investigate the current status of family quality of life among parents of children with autism and its relationships with other demographic variables and especially parental functioning including parenting stress,parenting self-efficacy and social support.A national survey of 1384 parent of children with autism was conducted online,which included five self-reported questionnaires such as Parenting Stress Index-Short Form,Family Support Scale,Parenting Sense of Competence Scale,and Family Quality of Life Scale.Descriptive Statistics,t-test,analysis of variance,correlation and regression and mediation analysis were used to analyze the related data.The results indicated that parents of children with autism reported a general satisfaction level of family quality of life,clinically higher level of parenting stress,and low level of parenting self-efficacy and social support.The results of t-tests and ANOVAs showed that fathers of children with autism experienced a statistically significant higher level of family quality of life,parenting self-efficacy and social support than mothers.The parents of a higher level of education and family income level and with a full-time job had higher levels of family quality of life and social support,and lower levels of parenting stress.The parents caring for children with a more serious impairment level showed lower levels of family quality of life and social support and relatively higher levels of parenting stress.Correlation and regression analyses showed that all three independent variables of parenting stress,parenting selfefficacy and social support are significantly associated with the dependent variable of family quality of life.Among that,parenting distress,compared with difficult child and parent-child interaction,self-efficacy,compared with satisfaction,informal support compared with formal social support,explained greater proportions of family quality of life in the parents of children with autism.Mediation analyses revealed that both parenting self-efficacy and social support partially mediated the relationship between parenting stress and family quality of life at a significant level.Furthermore,the effect size of the mediating effect of parenting self-efficacy is greater than social support according to the parallel mediation model.Finally,parenting stress not only had a direct effect on the family quality of life,but also exerted an indirect effect from parenting self-efficacy to social support on the family quality of life by comparing the two serial mediational model.Based on the results above,family quality of life among parents of children with autism can be improved by altering the structure and source of parenting self-efficacy and enhance the perception and uses of social support to reduce parenting stress.More specifically,the targeted intervention programs and psycho-educational curriculum should be developed to enhance the psychological self-regulation skills,accumulate more professional knowledge regarding child development,connect the school teachers,professionals and counsellors and family,share the parenting education services online,and organize respite services among parent-to-parent group in the community.