The Cold Shoulder or a Shoulder to Cry on? Mechanisms of Formal and Informal Social Support in the ASD Parenting Context

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 50; no. 12; pp. 4331 - 4343
• Main Authors: Shepherd, Daniel, Landon, Jason, Goedeke, Sonja, Meads, Jake
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child Rearing; Child, Preschool; Children; Family; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Mathematical models; Mental Health; Moderation; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Parental stress; Parenting - psychology; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychological aspects; Psychological well being; Psychology; Public Health; Shoulder; Social aspects; Social interactions; Social networks; Social Support; Social Support Groups; Statistical analysis; Statistical significance; Stress Variables; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Well Being; New Zealand; Autism; ASD; Psychological distress; Formal support; Moderation; Informal support; Parenting stress; Mediation; Social support
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04487-3

The underlying mechanisms by which social support exerts its (typically) positive effects on parental wellbeing are still being investigated in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) context. Parents (
n
 = 674) of a child with ASD responded to questions probing parenting stress, parent psychological health, their child’s ASD symptoms, and the types of social supports they were currently utilising. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses examined whether social support moderated or mediated (or neither) the relationships between: (a) parent-rated child ASD symptoms and parenting stress, and (b) parenting stress and parent psychological health. The main findings were that none of the mediating models reached statistical significance, while 7/20 moderation analyses were significant, though significance was dependent upon how social support was operationalised.