Emotional problems in mothers of autistic children and their correlation with socioeconomic status and the children's core symptoms

Abstract

To investigate the emotional problems (depressive and anxiety symptoms) of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and explore the role of the mother's socioeconomic status (SES) and the core symptoms of the child on the mother's emotional problems. This cross-sectional survey was performed in 180 mothers of children with ASD in Chang Sha city of China. The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to assess the anxiety and depressive symptoms of the mothers of the autistic children. The education level and annual family income, as well as occupation, were be selected as components of the mother's SES. Autism Behaviour Checklist (ABC) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) were used for the evaluation of the core symptoms of the children. A general information questionnaire was also used. The ordinal regression was used to examine the effect of the SES and children's core symptoms on maternal emotional problems. The valid response rate was 92.7% (167 of 180 questionnaires were returned). Of the mothers studied, 72.5% and 80.2% had depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively, and 67.1% suffered from both symptoms. Mother's SES was observed to be unrelated to maternal anxiety symptoms ( P >.05). Only 1 component of the SES (junior high school education level) was related to depressive symptoms (OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.12–0.80). SRS score under 115 (OR = 0.38, 95% CI 0.16–0.93) of autistic children was a protective factor against maternal anxiety symptoms. The borderline and mild behavioral problems (OR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.19–0.99; OR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.22–0.94, respectively) of autistic children were protective factors against maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers of autistic children generally exhibited high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The core symptoms of the autistic children were observed to be strongly associated with both maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms. Improvements in the core symptoms of children with ASD may help reduce maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms to some extent.

Mental health, broad autism phenotype and psychological inflexibility in mothers of young children with autism spectrum disorder in Australia: A cross-sectional survey

“…Similar results were found for models predicting anxious symptoms, with psychological inflexibility emerging as the greatest predictor of anxious symptomatology. Challenging parenting experiences also predicted anxiety in mothers of children with ASD, which is congruent with previous findings that children's core ASD symptoms (Zhou et al, 2019) and behavioural problems and parental self-efficacy (Hastings & Brown, 2002) are all associated with anxiety in mothers of children with ASD. Results further showed that psychological inflexibility and challenging parenting experiences partially mediated the relationship between BAP and anxiety in mothers of children with ASD, extending previous findings (Lau et al, 2014).…”

“…It was also not possible to confirm children's ASD diagnoses due to the anonymous online nature of the study. Furthermore, the regression models did not include a discrete measure of children's symptom severity, which has previously been found to be associated with maternal mental health (Benson, 2006;Benson & Karlof, 2009;Miranda et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2019). Finally, the cross-sectional design of this study precludes the inference of causal relationships as a longitudinal design is required to ascertain directionality and causation (Setia, 2016).…”

Factors Contributing to Psychological Ill-Effects and Resilience of Caregivers of Children with Developmental Disabilities During a Nation-wide Lockdown During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Having a diagnosis of ASD in the child is associated with a higher risk of anxiety in caregivers (Zhou et al, 2019 ), compared to other diagnostic groups, as children with ASD may have higher behavioral and more complex developmental challenges. This heightened risk is also seen in various studies as mentioned, both before and during pandemic times, but is especially noticeable among mothers (Wang et al, 2020 ).…”

Study of the psychological status of mothers of autism spectrum disorder children

“…Most of the ASD children depend on lifelong parental care. The mother, being the primary caregiver of the child, is subjected to economic burden and psychological distress 8,9 . Higher levels of anxiety and depression have been reported in mothers of ASD children than in mothers of children with normal development 10,11 .…”

“…The psychological distress in the mother can lead to compromised child care. Emotional wellbeing helps the mother to deal with the challenges associated with ASD children 8 . Hence, early recognition of emotional disturbance in mothers, and providing them psychological support, results in better care of ASD children.…”