The Relationship Between Family Developmental Function, Personality Traits, Parenting Stress of Mothers With Functional-Emotional Development of Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is among the most common types of developmental disabilities. In addition to reducing self–efficacy and increasing parenting stress, ASD affects the overall wellbeing of parents. Within the family system, family communication and the quality of parent–child relationships is essential in improving family functioning and developing the child's skills. Thus, it is necessary to consider the relationship between parenting stress, parental personality traits, family developmental function, and the functional, emotional development of children with ASD. Based on the results, it took effective steps to improve mental health, reduce parents' psychological pressures, and improve the quality of parent–child relationships. Thus, f this study aimed to investigate the relationship between family developmental function, personality traits, and parenting stress of mothers with functional–emotional development of boys with ASD.

This was applied and correlational research. The study participants were mothers and boys with ASD from 3 special educational centers in Mashhad City, Iran, in 2018–2019. Of them, 50 mothers and boys with autism spectrum disorder were selected by the convenience sampling method. For data collection, the Developmental Functioning Family Assessment Questionnaire (DFFAQ; Ali et al., 2014), Five–Factor Personality Inventory (NEO–FFI; Costa & McCare, 1992), Parenting Stress Index (PSI–SF; Abidin, 1990), and Functional–Emotional Development Questionnaire (FEDQ; Greenspan & Greenspan, 2002) were used. The data analysis was performed in SPSS by descriptive statistics, including percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics, such as Pearson correlation coefficient at the significance level of 0.05.

The obtained results indicated a significant direct relationship between family developmental function and functional–emotional development of boys with ASD (r=0.033, p=0.033). Moreover, there was a significant inverse relationship between the personality trait of maternal neuroticism and functional–emotional development of boys with ASD (r=–0.30, p=0.037). There was a significant direct relationship between personality traits of maternal extroversion (r=0.50, p˂0.001) and agreeableness (r=0.33, p=0.032) and functional–emotional development of boys with ASD. There was no significant relationship between personality traits of maternal openness (r=–0.07, p=0.724) and conscientiousness (r=0.17, p=0.168) and functional–emotional development of boys with ASD. In addition, there was no significant relationship between parenting stress of mothers and functional– emotional development of boys with ASD (r=–0.07, p=0.620).

Based on the findings of this study, there was only a significant relationship between family developmental function and maternal personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, & agreeableness) and functional–emotional development of boys with ASD. To reduce the behavioral symptoms in autistic children and provide better conditions for these children, it is necessary to identify and consider the factors associated with symptoms and use them in educational programs and treatment plans for these children.