Parenting Teenagers with an Autism Spectrum Disorder before and after the Transition to Secondary School

Background: In parenting, we can distinguish three main components: parenting behaviours, perceptions and cognitions. There is a growing number of studies investigating parental perception and cognition in parents with a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  However the number of studies investigating parenting behaviour is scarce, particularly for the target group, teenagers.

Objectives: We conducted an exploratory, qualitative study on parenting behaviour in parents raising a teenager with ASD. The first objective of this study was to conceptualise parenting behaviours among these parents. Secondly, we aimed to explore the potential relation between parenting behaviour and parental perception and cognition. Lastly, the influence of the transition to secondary school of the child on parental behaviour was examined.

Methods: Seventeen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the mother, father or both parents of teenagers diagnosed with an ASD, within one year before or after the transition from primary to secondary school. A self-constructed interview covering the different components of parenting (parental behaviour, parental perception and parental cognition) was used. The interviews lasted between 70 and 130 minutes.

All interviews were transcribed and double coded. We used a hybrid deductive-inductive approach to analysis. An initial codebook was developed, based on an extensive study of the literature. New codes were inductively generated for findings that could not be classified in the predefined codebook. Constant comparative method was used to guide the analytic process. We conducted a member check to increase the validity of the findings.

Results: The main themes of parenting behaviour were warmth, control, stimulating the development and adapting the environment to the needs of the teenager with ASD. Within the main themes, several categories were discriminated. Categories within parental warmth were positive affect and time spent together. Within parental control, four categories were distinguished: pro-active control, rule setting, reaction on problem behaviour and reaction on positive behaviour. Autonomy-support and stimulating the abilities were categories of stimulating the development. Within adapting the environment, no further categories were discriminated. The reported behaviours within each category were very diverse.

By case-ordering the parents on which parenting behaviour they reported most, three different patterns could be noted. Four parents focused mostly on controlling the teenager, six parents on parental warmth and seven on stimulating the teenager. These patterns were related to the parental perception and cognition, such as reported child characteristics, wishes for the future and parental stress.

Only parents of children in primary school reported control as being the main focus of parenting behaviour. The two other groups included both parents of children in primary and secondary school. This suggests that parental control decreases with increasing child age, while stimulating and warmth are becoming increasingly important.

Conclusions: Using a qualitative design, different patterns of parenting behaviour could be distinguished. These patterns appeared to be related to parental perceptions and cognitions and to the age of the child. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest to further explore the relation between parental behaviours and their perceptions and cognitions using a more controlled design.