Parenting Strategies Used by Parents of Children with ASD: Differential Links with Child Problem Behaviour

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2020-02, Vol.50 (2), p.386-401
• Main Authors: O’Nions, Elizabeth, Ceulemans, Eva, Happé, Francesca, Benson, Paul, Evers, Kris, Noens, Ilse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adjustment (to Environment); Anxiety; Attitudes; Autism; Autistic children; Behavior; Behavior Problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Care and treatment; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Child Behavior; Child Rearing; Children; Children & youth; Compliance; Compliance (Psychology); Families & family life; Family; Foreign Countries; Health aspects; Intolerance; Longitudinal studies; Methods; Neurosciences; Noncompliance; Original Paper; Parenting; Parenting Styles; Parents & parenting; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Predictor Variables; Psychology; Public Health; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reinforcement; Teenagers; Uncertainty
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04219-2

Here, we explored the structure of the ‘Parenting Strategies Questionnaire’, a new scale designed to measure parenting strategies for problem behaviour in ASD. We then examined links between child behaviour and parenting in a sample of 222 predominantly-UK parents of ASD children exhibiting behaviour found difficult or challenging. Analysis revealed three parenting subscales: Accommodation , Reinforcement Approaches and Reducing Uncertainty . Both Accommodation and Reducing Uncertainty were linked to child problem behaviour. Child factors explained up to 29% of the variance in Accommodation , with Socially Inflexible Non-compliance the strongest predictor, and up to 24% of the variance in Reducing Uncertainty , with Intolerance of Uncertainty the strongest predictor. Child factors were not related to Reinforcement Approaches . Longitudinal studies investigating these relationships are needed.