Empowerment and Parent Gain as Mediators and Moderators of Distress in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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dc.contributor.authorWeiss, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorMacMullin, Jennifer A.
dc.contributor.authorLunsky, Yona
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-16T22:06:19Z
dc.date.available2017-06-16T22:06:19Z
dc.date.issued2015-07
dc.description.abstractMothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience considerable amounts of distress and experiences of crisis. The Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response model provides a theory for understanding the experience of distress and family crisis in families, and the purpose of the present study was to examine experiences of distress in mothers of individuals with ASD using this framework. We specifically investigated how parent empowerment and positive gain are related to their experiences of distress, whether as mediators or as moderators of child aggression. Participants included 156 mothers of children with ASD ranging in age from 4 – 21 years. Mothers completed an online survey of demographics, problem behaviors, family empowerment, positive gain, and distress. We conducted path analyses of multiple mediation and moderation. Results indicated that greater child problem behavior was related to less parent empowerment, which was related to greater maternal distress, supporting empowerment as a partial mediator. At the same time, greater child aggression was not related to maternal distress in mothers who report high rates of positive gain, suggesting that parent gain functions as a moderator. The implications for how and when clinicians intervene with families of children with ASD are discussed.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWeiss, J. A., MacMullin, J., & Lunsky, Y. (2015). Empowerment and parent gain as mediators and moderators of distress in mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(7), 2038-2045.
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0004-7 en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/33205
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSpring International Publishingen_US
dc.rightsThe final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0004-7 en_US
dc.subjectempowermenten_US
dc.subjectpositive gainen_US
dc.subjectautism spectrum disorderen_US
dc.subjectmothersen_US
dc.subjectdistressen_US
dc.subjectstressen_US
dc.titleEmpowerment and Parent Gain as Mediators and Moderators of Distress in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
dc.typeArticleen_US

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