Association between parenting resilience and parenting and family adjustment of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

ObjectivesParenting resilience is considered necessary for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to adapt to the difficulties associated with parenting. In the high-context Japanese culture, mothers are less likely to be aware of the social communication difficulties that characterize ASD, leading to childcare difficulties. This study investigates how differences in the parenting resilience of mothers of children with ASD affect their parenting and family adjustment.MethodsMothers (N = 118) of children with ASD were surveyed using the Parenting Resilience Elements Questionnaire (PREQ) and Parenting and Family Adjustment Scale (PAFAS). Participants were divided into high- and low-resilience groups, and their scores on both scales were compared using the Mann-Whitney test.ResultsThe high-resilience group demonstrated significantly lower scores on all subscales of both PREQ and PAFAS compared with the low-resilience group.ConclusionsParenting resilience is suggested to play an important role in adapting well to emotional and behavioral issues seen in children with ASD. Therefore, specialists focused on enhancing parenting resilience must intervene to prevent the negative chain commonly encountered by mothers of children with ASD in Japan and improve parenting resilience. The results suggest that children with ASD receive trait-appropriate parenting and parents develop good parent - child relationships.