Examining the psychometric properties of the Parenting Stress Scale in mothers of autistic children

Parental stress has significant negative effects on the physical and mental health of parents of children with autism. The aim of the research was to investigate the psychometric properties of the parenting stress scale in mothers of children with autism. The survey research method and the statistical population of mothers with a child with autism spectrum disorder in Tehran in the spring of 2022. The statistical sample was 276 mothers of children with autism who were selected in an available manner. The tools used to measure autism parenting stress scales were Petrosvan and Miles (2009) and resilience of Conner and Davidson (2003). Descriptive and inferential statistics as well as confirmatory factor analysis were used for data analysis. SPSS version 25 and Smart PLS version 3.2 software were also used. The findings showed that the Cronbach's alpha value of the autism parenting stress scale is equal to 0.953 and for the four components of the child's behaviors and communication, care stress, supporting the child's needs and personal and family life, the reliability coefficients are between 0.76 and 0.92. Composite reliability was obtained for the whole scale of 0.962 and for the components between 0.86 and 0.93. The face and content validity of the scale was confirmed by the opinions of parents and experts. Criterion validity using resilience scale has been equally acceptable. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that while the scale has favorable convergent and divergent validity, the four-factor model was confirmed. Considering the appropriate reliability and validity, it is recommended to clinical experts and researchers to use the mentioned scale to measure the parenting stress of mothers.