Study: Moms of kids with autism have higher stress
July 10th, 2009From the University of Washington and the online journal Autism:
Mothers of kids with autism have higher levels of stress than moms of kids with other developmental disabilities, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington.
The study, published in the current issue of the online journal Autism, surveyed 73 mothers and their children, 51 with an autism spectrum disorder and 22 with developmental delays. It found that problem behavior among kids led to higher stress among both groups of mothers, but that moms of kids with autism experienced significantly greater stress than the other group.
The study also found that moms did not report higher stress when their kids needed more help with daily living skills, a finding that lead researcher Annette Estes called “counterintuitive.”
“If a child has more needs in getting dressed and in other daily living skills, that means the parents are working harder and seemingly would be under stress. But it is not the hard work that is stressing the mothers,” Estes said. “Our findings really pointed to the behavior problems that can occur with autism. Children with autism had significantly higher levels of problem behaviors than children with developmental delay.”
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October 14th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I totally agree with these findings. I am a mum of two sons diagnosed with Aspergers Sydrome and I find the daily living skills deficits are hard work but they are not overly stressful. It is the behaviour problems that ensue from their high anxieties with everyday living.
The stress is not only on the homefront either. In public children that are not perfectly behaved are frowned upon and so are their parents. I repeatedly have complete strangers telling me off or what I’m doing wrong or telling the kids off. They may be having a sensory reaction in a busy, loud supermarket or foodhall and the behaviours they exhibit are deemed not acceptable by the public. Sometimes, if you have the energy, you can enlighten them on why the kids are “behaving badly”. It does get exhausting doing this every trip though.
Going out in public fills me with dread when the kids are in tow. It is hard to keep focus on the kids and help them get through issues and deal with their emotions when everyone around you judges you as a bad parent.
Yes, so stresses are high due to problem behaviours in my autistic sons but it is also due to “problem behaviours” by the public who are unaware of this hidden disability.