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Coping strategies in mothers and fathers of pre-school and school age children with autism

Coping strategies in mothers and fathers of pre-school and school age children with autism
Coping strategies in mothers and fathers of pre-school and school age children with autism
Despite the theoretical and demonstrated empirical significance of parental coping strategies for the wellbeing of families of children with disabilities, relatively little research has focused explicitly on coping in mothers and fathers of children with autism. In the present study, 89 parents of preschool children and 46 parents of school-age children completed a measure of the strategies they used to cope with the stresses of raising their child with autism.
Factor analysis revealed four reliable coping dimensions: active avoidance coping, problem-focused coping, positive coping, and religious/denial coping. Further data analysis suggested gender differences on the first two of these dimensions but no reliable evidence that parental coping varied with the age of the child with autism. Associations were also found between coping strategies and parental stress and mental health. Practical implications are considered including reducing reliance on avoidance coping and increasing the use of positive coping strategies.
coping, fathers, mothers, preschool children, school-age children, stress
1362-3613
377-391
Hastings, Richard P.
4fd1ea2a-233f-461b-94c0-769e7d9e2c3c
Kovshoff, Hanna
82c321ee-d151-40c5-8dde-281af59f2142
Brown, Tony
29681add-e036-4276-a087-72d3b668efd8
Ward, Nicholas J.
a1613dd2-faa9-41d8-81c1-335dce5d0e96
Degli Espinosa, Francesca
5af47c7e-61bf-4735-af98-af734b87af28
Remington, Bob
87f75b79-4207-4b3a-8ad0-a8e4b26c010f
Hastings, Richard P.
4fd1ea2a-233f-461b-94c0-769e7d9e2c3c
Kovshoff, Hanna
82c321ee-d151-40c5-8dde-281af59f2142
Brown, Tony
29681add-e036-4276-a087-72d3b668efd8
Ward, Nicholas J.
a1613dd2-faa9-41d8-81c1-335dce5d0e96
Degli Espinosa, Francesca
5af47c7e-61bf-4735-af98-af734b87af28
Remington, Bob
87f75b79-4207-4b3a-8ad0-a8e4b26c010f

Hastings, Richard P., Kovshoff, Hanna, Brown, Tony, Ward, Nicholas J., Degli Espinosa, Francesca and Remington, Bob (2005) Coping strategies in mothers and fathers of pre-school and school age children with autism. Autism, 9 (4), 377-391. (doi:10.1177/1362361305056078).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Despite the theoretical and demonstrated empirical significance of parental coping strategies for the wellbeing of families of children with disabilities, relatively little research has focused explicitly on coping in mothers and fathers of children with autism. In the present study, 89 parents of preschool children and 46 parents of school-age children completed a measure of the strategies they used to cope with the stresses of raising their child with autism.
Factor analysis revealed four reliable coping dimensions: active avoidance coping, problem-focused coping, positive coping, and religious/denial coping. Further data analysis suggested gender differences on the first two of these dimensions but no reliable evidence that parental coping varied with the age of the child with autism. Associations were also found between coping strategies and parental stress and mental health. Practical implications are considered including reducing reliance on avoidance coping and increasing the use of positive coping strategies.

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Published date: 2005
Keywords: coping, fathers, mothers, preschool children, school-age children, stress

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 40187
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40187
ISSN: 1362-3613
PURE UUID: 55d30d5b-89bc-4e18-8b31-ce472636b7c8
ORCID for Hanna Kovshoff: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6041-0376

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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:28

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Contributors

Author: Richard P. Hastings
Author: Hanna Kovshoff ORCID iD
Author: Tony Brown
Author: Nicholas J. Ward
Author: Francesca Degli Espinosa
Author: Bob Remington

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