Comparison of decision-making styles, cognitive-emotional regulation and social adjustment in mothers with autistic children and mothers with normal children

Having a child with autism is a stressful situation for family members, which can lead to a variety of psychological problems in the family members of these children. The aim of this study was to compare decision-making styles, cognitive-emotional regulation and social adjustment in mothers with autistic children and mothers with normal children in Khorramabad.

The present study is a comparative method based on causal method. The statistical population of the present study is all mothers with autistic children and mothers with normal children in the academic year of 2019-2020, whose children are in the age range of 7 to 11 years. The census method and the number of mothers with normal children were selected by random sampling method. The research tools were Scott and Brucechr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s decision-making style questionnaires, Gross and Jenchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s cognitive-emotional regulation, and Bellchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s social adjustment questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multivariate and single-variance analysis by SPSS software version 19.

Data analysis showed that there is a significant difference between different types of decision-making styles, cognitive-emotional regulation and social adjustment of mothers with autistic children and mothers with normal children (p <0.001).

According to the research results, it can be said that mothers with autism have more failures in decision making, emotional regulation and social adjustment than mothers with normal children.