Why Do Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Have Lower Well-Being Than Typical Parents? An Analysis Based on Social Support, Psychological Resilience, and Parenting Stress

Zheng Jianhong; Huang Jingmin; He Chenglin

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250611

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (6) : 1418-1428. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250611

Why Do Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Have Lower Well-Being Than Typical Parents? An Analysis Based on Social Support, Psychological Resilience, and Parenting Stress

Zheng Jianhong^1,2, Huang Jingmin³, He Chenglin⁴

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Abstract

This study aims to explore how social support, psychological resilience, and parenting stress influence the well-being of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to conduct a comparative analysis with parents of typically developing children. The prevalence of ASD is rising globally, particularly in China, where the number of newly diagnosed cases is increasing significantly each year. This surge not only imposes substantial pressure on affected families but also challenges social and public health systems. Due to the long-term mental and financial burdens of caregiving, the well-being of parents of children with ASD is significantly lower than that of parents of typically developing children, and they are more susceptible to severe mental health issues. Although several national policies have been introduced to support the education and rehabilitation of children with ASD, the mental health of these parents has not received adequate attention. Therefore, this study focuses on analyzing the mechanisms through which social support, psychological resilience, and parenting stress influence the well-being of parents of children with ASD.
This research employed a questionnaire survey method, targeting 1,004 parents of children with ASD and 1,305 parents of typically developing children from 21 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China. The study utilized several instruments, including the General Well-Being Schedule (GWB), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Psychological Resilience Questionnaire for Parents of Children with Special Needs. For data analysis, SPSS 22.0 was employed to conduct descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and t-tests. Additionally, Mplus 8.3 was utilized to test chain mediation effects and between-group differences.
The results indicate that parents of children with ASD have significantly lower levels of social support compared to parents of typically developing children (t(2307) = 16.49, p < .001), and experience significantly higher levels of parenting stress (t(2307) = -13.21, p < .001). However, their psychological resilience is significantly higher than parents of typically developing children (t(2307) = -35.54, p < .001). Parents of children with ASD reported significantly lower levels of well-being compared to parents of typically developing children (t(2307) = 12.91, p < .001). Correlation analysis revealed that the well-being of parents of children with ASD is significantly and positively correlated with social support and psychological resilience (p < .01), while it is significantly and negatively correlated with parenting stress (p < .01). Further chain mediation analysis showed that social support indirectly enhances the well-being of parents of children with ASD by increasing psychological resilience and reducing parenting stress. The mediating effect of psychological resilience accounted for 74.1% of the total indirect effect, while the mediating effect of parenting stress accounted for only 6.7%. In contrast, for the group of parents of typically developing children, the mediating effect of psychological resilience accounted for 42.1% and parenting stress accounted for 47.6%. The results of the multiple-group structural equation modeling comparison revealed that the serial mediating effect of "psychological resilience → parenting stress" was significantly stronger in parents of children with ASD than in parents of typically developing children. This indicates that, compared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with ASD rely more on psychological resilience as a pathway through which social support enhances their well-being.
The findings suggest that psychological resilience can effectively mitigate the negative effects of high parenting stress and serves as an essential internal protective mechanism for enhancing the well-being of parents of children with ASD. Social support plays a central role in the relationship between psychological resilience and well-being, indicating that strengthening the social support and psychological resilience of parents of children with ASD can effectively reduce their parenting stress and enhance their overall well-being. Therefore, social service providers and policymakers should focus on building a robust social support system for these parents and developing intervention programs aimed at enhancing their psychological resilience to better help them cope with the challenges of parenting and improve their quality of life.

Key words

parents of children with autism spectrum disorder / social support / psychological resilience / parenting stress / well-being

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Zheng Jianhong, Huang Jingmin, He Chenglin. Why Do Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Have Lower Well-Being Than Typical Parents? An Analysis Based on Social Support, Psychological Resilience, and Parenting Stress[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2025, 48(6): 1418-1428 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250611

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