Abstract
The present study examined the impact of autism symptoms and coping strategies on the well-being of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The sample consisted of 153 mothers of toddlers and 201 mothers of adolescents drawn from two ongoing, longitudinal studies of families of individuals with ASD. For mothers of toddlers, lower levels of emotion-focused coping and higher levels of problem-focused coping were generally associated with better maternal well-being, regardless of the level of child symptomatology. For mothers of adolescents, coping often acted as a buffer when autism symptoms were high. Although there was evidence of maternal distress in both groups, the presence of significant buffering effects reflects adaptation in the face of stress, particularly for mothers of adolescents.
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Support for the preparation of this paper was provided by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG08768), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30 HD03352, T32 HD07489), the National Institute of Mental Health (U54 MH 66398), the National Alliance for Autism Research, and the Boston University General Clinical Research Center.
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Smith, L.E., Seltzer, M.M., Tager-Flusberg, H. et al. A Comparative Analysis of Well-Being and Coping among Mothers of Toddlers and Mothers of Adolescents with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 38, 876–889 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0461-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0461-6