Date of Award

Fall 2025

Language

English

Embargo Period

11-22-2025

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Psychology (Master's)

First Advisor

Kristin Christodulu

Committee Members

Melissa Rinaldi

Keywords

autism, parenting stress, family quality of life

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Parents of newly diagnosed autistic children face elevated levels of parenting stress due to the unique demands associated with raising an autistic child and the challenges of navigating the early intervention systems which often impact their family functioning (Rivard et al., 2023). This study aimed to investigate how autistic traits and demographic variables are associated with parenting stress and family quality of life (FQOL) in caregivers of recently diagnosed autistic children. Data were obtained from 118 caregivers enrolled in a family education program within one year of their child’s autism diagnosis. Measures included the Parenting Stress Index, Short Form, The Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale, and the Social Responsiveness Scale- Second Edition. Correlational analyses revealed that higher levels of autism characteristics and higher parenting stress were associated with significantly lower FQOL. Results also suggested that greater social communication difficulties intensified the negative association between parenting stress and FQOL. Other autism characteristic domains did not significantly moderate this relationship. These findings underscore the importance of supporting caregivers early in the diagnostic process, particularly through interventions that address social communication challenges and parenting stress.

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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