Differing relationships between parenting stress, parenting practices and externalising behaviours in autistic children.

Abstract

There is limited literature on the association between parenting practices, parenting stress and externalising behaviours in autistic children. We investigated whether parenting practices mediate the association between parenting stress and externalising behaviours. Parents of school-aged autistic children (n = 138) completed an online survey on parenting practices, parenting stress and child externalising behaviours. Higher levels of parenting stress were associated with higher levels of externalising behaviours. In contrast to prior literature, parenting practices were not associated with child externalising behaviours and did not have mediating effects on the association between parenting stress and child externalising behaviours. However, higher levels of parenting stress were associated with lower levels of mindful parenting and higher levels of permissive and authoritarian parenting practices. Together, findings suggest that targeting parenting stress can impact parenting practices. Limitations of the study are acknowledged including the cross-sectional design, which limits causality-based inferences, given parent-child associations could occur over time. Implications for research and clinical practice in designing parent-informed programmes focused on reducing parenting stress via parenting practices are discussed.Lay abstractThere is much research on parenting stress and child behaviours of autistic children. However, researchers have rarely explored whether how parents raise their children (called 'parenting practices') links to parenting stress and child behaviours. This is important, as if we know which parenting practices lead to better outcomes, parents can be supported to use parenting practices that are most helpful to them and/or their child. We asked parents of school-aged children to complete a survey on parenting stress, parenting practices and child behaviours. We found that parents who reported being more stressed (i.e. high levels of parenting stress) reported their children showed more observable behaviours that others find challenging such as aggression. Parents who were more stressed also reported lower mindful parenting (i.e. a style of parenting characterised by being present, non-judgementally in the moment) and were more permissive (e.g. giving in) in their parenting. However, these parenting practices did not impact the link between parenting stress and child behaviours. Results suggest we should focus on ways to reduce parents' stress, which could include changing parenting practices which is consistent with strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming approaches.