STRESS AND RESILIENCE IN PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD): CORRELATION WITH CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHILD WITH ASD

e research was conducted to get insight into the le-vels of stress and resilience in parents of children with au-tism spectrum disorder (ASD) and into the correlation with problem behavior, communication, interest in others, and rigid routines in children with ASD. Seventy (70) parents of children with ASD, participated in the research. The rese-arch found moderate levels of stress and moderately high levels of resilience in parents. Among the characteristics of a child, problem behavior has the most statistically significant correlation with parental stress and resilience. Problem be-havior of children with ASD is more present in families with more general and parental stress and less resilience, more precisely, in families with poor communication, weak coping with problems, and less connection between family members. Communication of a child with ASD is not re-lated to stress and resilience in parents. A child's interest in others is related to stress and family connectedness, while the routines of a child with ASD are associated with some parental resilience factors. Overall, the results suggest that support programs for parents should include activities that rise their awareness of their strengths, and increase family connectedness, communication and constructive problem-solving in order to reduce stress and increase resilience and a child with ASD functioning