Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify significant child-related, parent-related, and social predictors of parental stress among parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID).
Methods: A total of 100 parents were recruited from a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic (56 parents of children diagnosed with ASD and 44 parents of children with ID). Participants completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Parental Attitude Scale (PAS), the Impact on Family Scale (IFS), and the Parental Stress Scale (PSS). Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to determine which variables best predicted parental stress.
Results: Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that the overall model significantly predicted parental stress, F(9, 90)=6.877, p<0.001, explaining 34.8% of the variance. Parental self-efficacy (β=-0.285, p=0.003) and perceived family support (β=-0.213, p=0.024) emerged as significant independent predictors of stress. In contrast, children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties (SDQ scores) and family impact (IFS scores) were not significantly associated with parental stress in the final model.
Conclusion: The findings highlight parental self-efficacy and family support as key predictors of parental stress in families of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD). These results underscore the importance of strengthening parental competence and enhancing family-based support resources to alleviate parental stress.