Transactions between Child Behavior and Parent Anxiety/Depression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Roles of Parenting Stress, Self-Efficacy and Emotion Coaching

Abstract

Parents of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have been shown to experience increases in stress, depression, and anxiety, which are also associated with child behavior problems related to ASD, such as aggressive behaviors and tantrums. Literature examining potential mechanisms that underlie the relationship of child behavior problems and parental anxiety/depression are scarce. The current study seeks to examine the roles of parental stress, parent self-efficacy, and emotion coaching as mediators between child behavior problems and parental anxiety/depression. Using a sample of 134 mothers who completed an online survey, these potential mediators were tested with regression analyses. Parental self-efficacy was found to mediate parental stress and parental depression/anxiety. Parental self-efficacy was also found to moderate child conduct problems and parental emotion coaching. There was a positive relationship between conduct problems and emotion coaching for mothers with high self-efficacy. Implications and future research will be discussed.