Moderating Effect of Child's Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Diagnosis on Benefit Finding and Negative Affect of Parents

Substantial empirical evidence has highlighted the psychological stress and negative well-being of parents whose children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It also indicated a need for understanding the mechanisms through which parents come to successfully meet the challenges of caregiving for these children whose condition are often characterized by persistent behavioral, social, and communication problems. This study seeks to explore the relationships between benefit finding and parental well-being and aims to bridge the research gaps in 3 ways. First, it seeks to examine the nature of relationships between benefit finding and parent positive and negative affect among parents whose children have ASD or other special needs. Second, we posit that this relationship would be moderated by the presence of ASD in the child. Third, we hypothesize that this moderation may vary with the children's age. Three hundred and 2 parents responded to a self-report questionnaire. Specifically, for parents of children who are non-ASD, higher levels of perceived benefit finding were found to be associated with lower levels of negative affect, and this holds for those with young children below 7 years of age. For parents having a child with ASD, perceiving high or low levels of benefit did not mitigate their negative feelings regardless of the child's age. The latter findings on the moderating effect of ASD diagnosis were unexpected and inconsistent with current research indications. These were discussed in the light of the literature, with potential implications for future research and practice.