Trajectories of psychological distress for Australian fathers parenting a child on the autism spectrum: Evidence from early childhood to adolescence.

Abstract

Lay abstract: This study explores the mental health journey of fathers with children on the autism spectrum. Little is known about mental health over time for these fathers. This research spans six-timepoints from when children were aged 4 to 14 years, to track fathers' mental health. This study had three aims: (1) report estimates of fathers' psychological distress across 10 years of child development; (2) identify separate courses of psychological distress over time; and (3) identify early risk factors associated with these courses. This study used data from 281 fathers of children on the autism spectrum who took part in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Using a statistical method to group fathers based on their psychological distress scores over 10 years of child development, the results showed that two groups best explained the data; this included a group of fathers who experienced low levels of psychological distress over the 10 years of child development (84%), and another group of fathers who experienced heightened psychological distress across this time (16%). Further analysis showed that fathers who had an ongoing medical condition and higher levels of interparental conflict with their partners were more likely to be in the heightened psychological distress group. These findings show that almost one in six fathers deal with persistent psychological distress throughout their child's early childhood and into early adolescence. This study advocates for interventions focusing on improving fathers' physical health and the couple relationship as ways to positively impact fathers' mental health in the long run.