The Relation Between Child Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptom Severity and Caregiver Stress 

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Principal topic: Parents and caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience high levels of stress and anxiety associated with providing care for their child with ASD (Brobst et al., 2009). Though previous studies have found that social support can decrease this experienced stress (Catalano et al. 2018), this project aims to understand which demographic factors may help moderate the relation between ASD symptom severity and associated caregiver stress.  

 

Method: Data were collected from 156 parents of children with an ASD diagnosis. Parents completed the Child Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) about their child(ren) with an ASD diagnosis, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) about their own distress, and answered general demographic questions including SES, race, and usage of governmental assistance programs.  

 

Results/implications: A simple correlational analysis shows that caregiver stress is positively related with ASD symptom severity, r = .26, p = .001. There is also a significant negative relation between government assistance usage and caregiver stress, r = -.27, p = .001, which suggests that caregivers who are more likely to be using government assistance are less stressed. There was no correlation between government assistance usage and ASD symptom severity, r = -.03, p = .67. A moderated multiple regression analysis indicated that ASD symptom severity and government assistance accounted for significant variance in caregiver stress, R2 = .13, F(2, 153) = 11.37, p < .001. Both ASD symptom severity, β = .24, p = .002, and government assistance, β = -.26, p = .001, predicted unique variance in caregiver distress. When the interaction term was added in the second step, usage of governmental assistance moderated the relation between ASD symptom severity and caregiver stress, ΔR2 = .03, F(1, 152) = 4.78, p = .03. A post-hoc plot (Figure 1) indicated that there is a significant difference in caregiver stress in parents of children with high ASD symptom severity for those with government assistance compared to those without government assistance. This finding may indicate that caregivers of children with more severe ASD symptom severity who also rely on government assistance have higher levels of stress than caregivers of children with similar ASD symptom severity who do not have the added, compounded stress of financial worries. This finding suggests that low income families of children with higher ASD symptom severity would benefit from interventions that target caregiver stress that do not require financial resources. For example, free parent support groups could be a way to expand social support for these parents, particularly given previous literature showing that social support decreases stress (Catalano et al. 2018).  

Authors

• Shelby Lee Johnson, Washington State University
  Presenting Author

• Sarah C Boland, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca A Lindsey, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tammy D Barry, Washington State University
  Non-Presenting Author