Predictors of Positive and Negative Cognitive Appraisals in Families Raising a Child with Autism

Background: The concept of cognitive appraisal was used as a method to examine how parents adapt to raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A parent makes a positive cognitive appraisal when they interpret an event in an adaptive way, such as by viewing the consequences of having a child with a disability in terms of the positives that he or she has added to their life, for example, leading them to become more spiritual. Parents make negative cognitive appraisals when in their view, the consequences of caring for their child with a disability has led to “unwelcome disruption in ‘normal’ family routines”. It is expected that parents from different families will have different reactions to their child’s diagnosis of autism. Parents can attribute both positive and negative meaning and interpretations to an event; thus they can make both positive and negative cognitive appraisals. The negative and positive cognitive appraisals that parents make while raising their child with autism were investigated.

Objectives: To investigate the potential factors contributing to parents’ positive and negative cognitive appraisals, including family quality of life (FQOL), authoritative parenting, and the child’s adaptive and aberrant behaviour. A second objective was to investigate which subscales of family quality of life were predictors of negative cognitive appraisal.

Methods: Fifty-four families with a child between 6 and 9 years old with an ASD participated. In order to confirm the child’s diagnosis of autism, gold-standard diagnostic measures for ASD were administered. Questionnaires and interviews were completed by the father or mother of each family.

Results: Three initial multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses were performed. One MLR was performed for each outcome: positive cognitive appraisal and negative cognitive appraisal.  Family quality of life predicted 36.6% of the variance in negative cognitive appraisal, and the relationship between the two variables was inverse, such that parents reporting higher satisfaction with their family quality of life reported lower negative cognitive appraisals. An additional MLR was performed to verify which subscales of FQOL predicted negative cognitive appraisal. Family emotional well-being predicted 45.9% of the variance in negative cognitive appraisal.

Conclusions: Parents make both positive and negative cognitive appraisals. Parents reporting higher satisfaction with their family quality of life report lower negative cognitive appraisals. For example, if parents perceive that they are satisfied with the support they receive for their child with a disability, then they appraise the impact of raising their child with autism less negatively. This finding suggests that perceiving satisfaction with family quality of life can be adaptive for parents raising a child with autism. Specifically, if parents report that their family has high emotional well-being, their appraisals are less negative than families with low emotional well-being. This study contributes to the research literature concerning the positive aspects of caring for a child with a disability. It emphasizes the importance of considering family’s cognitive appraisals of the impact of disability when developing interventions.