Maternal Psychological Resources in Parenting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives</strong>. The challenges of raising children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often lead to stress and emotional burnout in parents. The presence and development of psychological resources in parents during family support processes contribute to improving the effectiveness of psychological support. The study examines both external and internal resources of mothers raising children with ASD in relation to symptoms of parental burnout.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods. </strong>The sample consisted of 80 women raising children with ASD. The average age of the mothers was 36.45±4.78 years, and the average age of the children was 6.32±2.26 years. The following instruments were used: “Diagnosis of Attitude Towards a Child’s Illness” (DOBR) by V.E. Kagan and I.P. Zhuravleva; the “Parental Burnout Questionnaire” by I.N. Efimova; the “Parent-Child Emotional Interaction Questionnaire” (ODREV) by E.I. Zakharova; and the “Self-Attitude Test Questionnaire” by V.V. Stolin and S.R. Pantileev. Data were processed using Spearman’s correlation analysis.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results. </strong>Among the surveyed mothers raising children with ASD, 65% reported high or moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, 35% demonstrated pronounced or moderate levels of depersonalization, and 40% experienced doubts about their parental competence.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusions. </strong>It was found that exaggerating the severity of the child’s illness, overall tension, and excessive focus on the child’s condition during interactions are associated with symptoms of parental burnout. Psychological resources, such as a harmonious attitude toward the child’s illness, positive emotional expressions in interactions, and adequate self-attitude based on self-understanding, self-acceptance, and self-respect, serve as protective factors preventing the development of parental burnout symptoms in mothers and positively influence the development of children with ASD. It is advisable to further explore the resources of mothers raising children with varying degrees of ASD severity, as well as to study the psychological resources of fathers raising children with ASD.</p>