Coping behaviors in mothers with an atypical child

Abstract

Nowadays an increased interest seems to be developing concerning the coping strategies of parents with an autistic child. Several studies focused on the gender differences or tried to explore the effect of the levels of the child's behavioral symptoms. Although most of the previous studies made comparisons at a single point in time, some longitudinal research also came to light in the last decades. The results usually confirmed characteristic patterns of the parents’ coping behavior. The aim of this study was to compare coping behaviors in mothers with a child living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Down-syndrome (DS), since until now there has been no investigation into this question, even though it plays an important role in stressful occasions that are inevitable and frequent concomitants of these families’ life. This time a cross-sectional study has been carried out. The selected research method was composed of semi-structured interviews, self-administered questionnaires and participant observation. 5-5 mothers were involved in the study with a child living with ASD or DS. In addition to this, five mothers with a typically developing child also participated in the research. The age of the children varied between four and nine years. According to the earlier studies, a higher level of stress was experienced by atypical children's mothers, and emotion-focused coping strategies were also more often used by them. Task-focused coping was associated with a lower level of experienced stress in the family system. However, further studies are needed to explore other correlations of the examined field.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.