Depression and Stress Levels in Parents of Young Children with Autism

Background:  It has been reported in literature that parents of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show elevated levels of stress and are at a high risk for depression (Benson & Karlof, 2009). However, parental mental health and its connection to stress and child functioning in parents of young children who have ASD or who are at risk for ASD (e.g., infants and toddlers) have not yet been studied in literature.

Objectives:  To investigate differences in parent mental health, stress level, and child functioning in parents of 1- and 2-year-olds who volunteered for an early intervention study.

Methods:  We included 30 1-year-olds with social and communication delays who also showed signs of ASD (mean age = 15.46 months) and their parents, and 60 2-year-olds with ASD (mean age = 26.14 months) and their parents. Parents completed the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI) depression scale, and Parenting Stress Index (PSI), child and parent domains. The PSI child domain measures stress that stems from raising a child and includes components such as hyperactivity and demandingness. PSI parent domain measures stress that stems from being a parent and includes components such as depression and social isolation. Children in both groups were administered Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL; Mullen, 1995) and Autism Diagnostic and Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord et al., 2000) by the expert clinicians.

Results:  Overall, parents in both groups had significantly elevated PSI scores on the child domain: 56% of parents of 1-year-olds, and 53% of parents of 2-year-olds had clinically elevated percentile scores on this domain; however the groups did not differ from each other. Parents of 1-year-olds who were at risk for ASD had significantly higher T scores on the BSI depression scale (43% of parents of 1-year-olds, and 13% of parents of 2-year-olds had clinically elevated T scores), as well as on the PSI parent scale (26% of parents of 1-year-olds vs. 10% of parents of 2-year-olds had elevated percentile scores). For parents of 1-year-olds, scores on the BSI depression scale were related to the PSI parent and child domains. For parents of 2-year-olds, scores on the BSI depression were related to the scores on the PSI child domain. For either group, scores on the BSI depression scale were not related to the child level of functioning as measured by the ADOS and the MSEL. For both groups, scores on the BSI depression scale were predicted by the scores on the PSI parent domain.

Conclusions:  Parents of toddlers with ASD or who were at risk for ASD reported elevated stress and depression as compared to the norm. Parents of 1-year-olds who were at risk for ASD reported more parental stress and depression than the parents of children with ASD who were just a year older. Parents of young children with ASD or who show early signs of ASD may be at particular risk for developing depression that is due to parental stress, and may require interventions that target parental stress and depression.