The factors predicting stress, anxiety and depression in the parents of children with autism remain poorly understood. In this study, a cohort of 250 mothers and 229 fathers of one or more children with autism completed a questionnaire assessing reported parental mental health problems, locus of control, social support, perceived parent-child attachment, as well as autism symptom severity and perceived externalizing behaviours in the child with autism. Variables assessing parental cognitions and socioeconomic support were found to be more significant predictors of parental mental health problems than child-centric variables. A path model, describing the relationship between the dependent and independent variables, was found to be a good fit with the observed data for both mothers and fathers.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	mothers, fathers, stress, anxiety, depression, autism
Research Division:	Psychology
Research Group:	Applied and developmental psychology
Research Field:	Psychology of ageing
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Public health (excl. specific population health)
Objective Field:	Mental health
UTAS Author:	Falk, NH (Mr Nicholas Falk)
UTAS Author:	Norris, K (Professor Kimberley Norris)
UTAS Author:	Quinn, MG (Dr Michael Quinn)
ID Code:	93305
Year Published:	2014
Web of Science® Times Cited:	168
Deposited By:	Psychology
Deposited On:	2014-07-24
Last Modified:	2017-11-06
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