Challenged and changed: Quiet ego and posttraumatic growth in mothers raising children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Posttraumatic growth theory posits that when life circumstances are perceived as stressful, secondary appraisal processes can be recruited in ways to facilitate both coping efforts and personal growth. Using a mixed-methods approach, we found mothers' most challenging experiences involved child behavior (e.g. aggression, communication, and social issues) and psychosocial impacts (e.g. lack of social support, perceived judgment of others, perceived loss, and personal distress). Descriptions of most rewarding experiences reflect posttraumatic growth frameworks including constructive perceptions about themselves, life, and their relationships as well as evidence for what Maercker and Zoellner call illusory types of posttraumatic growth. Quantitative data were subjected to a hierarchical regression analysis for self-reported posttraumatic growth and included mothers' demographics, child functioning, and psychosocial measures. As predicted, posttraumatic growth was positively associated with social support from mothers' most important network member and quiet ego characteristics, a type of eudaimonic motivation. Contrary to expectation, neither autism spectrum disorder-related rumination nor time since diagnosis (or their interaction) was associated with posttraumatic growth. Discussion focuses on the practical implications of our findings that posttraumatic growth-related coping includes both constructive and illusory forms and the importance of social support and eudaimonic motivation in facilitating positive forms of secondary coping.

Psychopathology in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence

“…Some challenging behaviours, such as aggression and self-injury, are not predicted by ASD symptom severity or level of cognitive impairment (Kanne & Mazurek, 2011; McClintock et al, 2003). Despite these significant challenges, it is important to note that some parents report a sense of personal growth in the context of parenting their children with ASD, reflecting on the experience as something that fostered significant personal and/or spiritual change (Nichols, 2019; Wayment, Al-Kire, & Brookshire, 2018; Zhang, Yan, Barriball, While, & Liu, 2015).…”

The Relationship Between Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth Among the Primary Caregivers of Children With Developmental Disabilities: The Mediating Role of Positive Coping Style and Self-Efficacy

“…We suspect that developmental disabilities, regardless of the diagnosis, pose a great challenge for the primary caregiver. For example, developmental disabilities need rehabilitation treatment, which is a long process that requires considerable time, energy and money ( Blachera et al, 2005 ; Wayment et al, 2019 ). Therefore, targeted psychological intervention is particularly important for caregivers.…”

“…Resilience is a protective factor for PTG elevation ( Qin et al, 2021 ). As previously mentioned, families of children with developmental disabilities confront special stressors, such as communication barriers and unpredictable behavior, so they are more susceptible to greater pressure ( Wayment et al, 2019 ) and more complex challenges ( Wayment and Brookshire, 2018 ) than families of typically developing children. Despite such enormous challenges, caregivers still have high expectations for their families and often manage to maintain a sense of control with active adaptation and response ( Lickenbrock et al, 2011 ), namely, resilience ( Kapp and Brown, 2011 ).…”

Enhancing and explaining art-making for mood-repair: The benefits of positive growth-oriented instructions and quiet ego contemplation.

“…In previous research, quiet ego characteristics were also associated with growth related values (Wayment & Bauer, 2017), and, in samples coping with real-world crises, adaptive responses to negative events (Wayment & Cavolo, 2019). For example, quiet ego characteristics were associated with posttraumatic growth responses to unemployment in unemployed adults during the great recession (Wayment, Huffman, & Irving, 2018), among mothers coping with parental stressors associated with raising a child with developmental disabilities (Wayment, Al-Kire, & Brookshire, 2019), and with sense of belonging and social support following a campus shooting (Wayment & Silver, 2018).…”