Mindful Parenting, Caregiver Distress, and Conduct Problems in Children with Autism

• Published in: American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities Vol. 126; no. 5; pp. 396 - 408
• Main Authors: Raulston, Tracy J, Kosty, Derek, McIntyre, Laura Lee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 01.09.2021; American Association of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
• Subjects: Anxiety; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Behavior; Behavior disorders; Behavior Patterns; Behavior Problems; Caregiver burden; Caregivers; Child Behavior; Child Caregivers; Child Rearing; Children; Children & youth; Communication; Communication Skills; Conduct disorder; Correlation; Data collection; Depression (Psychology); Developmental disabilities; Externalizing behaviour; Families & family life; Hyperactivity; Investigations; Life Satisfaction; Mental depression; Metacognition; Mindfulness; Mothers; Oral Language; Parent Child Relationship; Parental stress; Parenting Styles; Parents; Parents & parenting; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Physical Health; Positive Reinforcement; Predictor Variables; Psychiatry; Psychological distress; Psychological Patterns; Self Efficacy; Stress; Stress Variables; Well Being
• ISSN: 1944-7515; 1944-7558
• DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-126.5.396

Children with autism may display an externalizing problem behavior, which are associated with increased parenting stress and depression in caregivers. Mindful parenting is defined as having a non-judgmental moment-to-moment awareness during caregiver-child interactions. The extant literature is mixed, with some reporting that associations between child problem behavior and parenting stress and depression vary by level of mindful parenting, while others have not found these relations. We sought to extend these explorations. Participants who were caregivers of 75 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ages 5-10, in the Pacific Northwestern region of the United States. Child conduct problems, parenting stress and caregiver depression, and mindful parenting were measured using caregiver-reported measures. Child conduct problems, parenting stress, and caregiver depression, and mindful parenting were all significantly correlated. The association between child conduct problems and parenting stress was significant for caregivers with high and low levels of mindful parenting. In contrast, the association between child conduct problems and caregiver depression was significant only for caregivers with low levels of mindful parenting. Our results suggest that mindful parenting may be a promising protective factor for the well-being of caregivers of children with autism. Implications are discussed.