Stress in Parenting Autistic Children: The Daily Hassles Approach to Conceptualising Stress

Haldane, Elizabeth R (1998) Stress in Parenting Autistic Children: The Daily Hassles Approach to Conceptualising Stress. D Clin Psy thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The study investigated stress associated with the normal everyday demands of parenting (parenting daily hassles, pdh) in mothers of pre-school and school aged autistic children. Comparisons were made between age groups and mothers of Downs Syndrome children and mothers of normally developing children. Consistent with previous research findings and as predicted, results indicated a trend for greater general stress in parenting autistic children. However, overall, pdh were less stressful in the autistic group than in the Downs Syndrome group, and of similar stress to normal development. Specific pdh were found to differentiate between disability groups on stress and frequency of the pdh. Hassles found to be less stressful for the autistic group were those in more practical areas of parenting. This maybe explained by the finding that these mothers reported greater satisfaction with practical support than mothers of Downs Syndrome children. However, practical support may not be enough to buffer against the stress of pdh related to the social difficulties of the autistic child. This was found to be a particular source of stress in parenting autistic children. Surprisingly, emotional support was not found to contribute to stress in this study. Age of the child offered little explanation for stress differences between the groups. Generally, across the groups, greater stress was reported by mothers of older children. Reasearch and practical implications are discussed.

• Item Type: Thesis (D Clin Psy)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: Christina Del Priore
• Keywords: Clinical psychology
• Date of Award: 1998
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1998-75870
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 17:41
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 17:41
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/75870