Comparing Parenting Styles of Parents of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

The aim of this study was to compare the parenting styles of parents of children with and without autism spectrum disorder.
This was a causal-comparative research. The statistical population of this research includes all of the parents of children with and without autism spectrum disorder in city of Shiraz. From this population, a sample of 90 subjects (49 parents of children with autism spectrum disorders and 50 parents of children without autism spectrum disorders) were selected. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder were selected through convenient sampling, and parents of children without autism spectrum were selected through multistage random sampling. For assessing the parenting style of participants, parenting styles questionnaire (Robinson et al., 1995) was used., and data were analyzed using MANOVA.
Results indicated that authoritarian parenting style of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder, and authoritative parenting style of parents of children without autism spectrum disorder were significantly higher than their counterpart group (P0/05).
According to the differences found between the parenting styles of the two groups, design and implementation of educational programs in parenting styles for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder seems crucial.