A Comparative Study And The Relationship Between Parenting Stress And Quality Of Life In Couples Having Children With Autism Spectrum

Having children with autism causes stress to parents, which negatively affects their quality of life. This issue that having a child with autism spectrum affects the father or mother more has been less investigated. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing parenting stress and quality of life and the relationship between these concepts in couples with autistic children.

The current research is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional. The research population included 96 couples with children with autism who referred to autism centers in Bushehr and Shiraz cities in 2019; who were included in the research using the census method. Data collection tools included demographic form, parenting stress and quality of life questionnaires. Mean, standard deviation and frequency tables were used to describe the data, and paired t-tests and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS V.19 software.

The average age of mothers and fathers was 48.48±8.41 and 53.31±7.90 respectively. The average score of parenting stress in fathers and mothers was 133.84±9.85 and 134.73±17.92, respectively, and the average quality of life of fathers and mothers was 54.85±7.45 and 53.56±5.70, respectively. The two groups had no statistically significant difference in average quality of life (p=0.157) and parenting stress (P=0.900). There was an inverse and significant statistical relationship between fathers' parenting stress with their mental (p=0.008) and physical (p=0.004) quality of life and also between mothers' parenting stress with their mental (p<0.001) and physical (p=0.001) quality of life.

The results showed that both parents of children with autism experience the same high parenting stress and similar quality of life. Parents' stress of parenting can affect their quality of life; which is stronger in mothers than in fathers. Therefore, developing parenting stress reduction programs for couples with autistic children should be on the agenda of health policy makers.