Daily experiences and well-being of Chinese parents of children with autism.

Chinese researchers followed 76 parents of autistic children for 14 days, asking them to record their daily feelings and experiences. They found that mothers' well-being was more affected by daily stress from their child's needs, but social support helped improve their mood. For all parents, avoiding problems made them feel worse, while using positive coping strategies (like problem-solving) improved their mood and life satisfaction both that day and the next day.

This 14-day diary study examined daily well-being patterns among 76 Chinese parents (58 mothers) of children with autism spectrum disorder. The research investigated how child-related stress, coping strategies, and social support influenced parents' daily positive and negative emotions and life satisfaction. Key findings revealed gender differences in responses: mothers' life satisfaction was negatively affected by child-related stress but positively influenced by daily social support, while these patterns were not observed in fathers. Across all parents, avoidant coping strategies were associated with increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions.

Importantly, positive coping strategies were linked to enhanced positive emotions and life satisfaction both on the same day and the following day.

Results suggest interventions should focus on teaching positive coping strategies, enhancing social support networks, and addressing child-related stress, particularly for mothers. Gender-specific approaches may be warranted given different response patterns between mothers and fathers.

Small sample size of 76 parents limits generalizability. Cultural specificity to Chinese families may not apply to other populations. Short 14-day observation period may not capture longer-term patterns. Study type and methodology details not specified in the abstract.

The present study examined the influences of child-related stress, parental coping and social support on parental daily subjective well-being (i.e. positive and negative affect, life satisfactory) in Chinese families of children with autism spectrum disorder. For 14 days, a total of 76 parents (58 mothers) participated in the study and completed daily diaries. For mothers, child-related stress was related to lower life satisfaction; social support was related to higher life satisfaction that day. These daily relations were not found for fathers.

Across all parents, avoidant coping was associated with higher negative affect and lower positive affect on the same day. Notably, daily positive coping was related to greater same-day positive affect as well as greater same-day and next-day life satisfaction. Interventions aimed at increasing positive coping and social support, and reducing child-related stress and avoidant coping are important to help parents maintain well-being, particularly for mothers of children with autism.