Bunfield, Melanie; Holliman, Andrew; (2024) Examining the contribution of personal and conditional resources to psychological wellbeing among parents of children with autism. Psychology of Education Review , 48 (2) pp. 43-52. 10.53841/bpsper.2024.48.2.43.

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Abstract

Few would dispute that caring for a child with autism can be a positive and rewarding experience. However, it is often the case that parents (or guardians) of children with autism also experience lower psychological wellbeing and heightened psychological distress. In the present study, we harness Conservation of Resources theory, to examine the relative contribution of personal resources (parental self-efficacy and resilient coping) and conditional resources (perceived social support and family communication). A sample of 90 parents of children with autism were surveyed for their personal and conditional resources as well as their psychological wellbeing using measures of life satisfaction and psychological distress. Multiple regression analyses revealed that family communication and perceived social support were significant predictors of life satisfaction, while perceived social support and parental self-efficacy (unexpected direction) were significant predictors of psychological distress. The findings underscore the importance of conditional resources (and perceived social support in particular), for parents of children with autism and it is argued that interventions might focus more on socially supporting families to help promote their psychological wellbeing and reduce psychological distress.

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