A longitudinal examination of interactions between autism symptom severity and parenting behaviors in predicting change in child behavior problems

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit behavior problems, with more severe ASD symptomatology relating to more severe behavior problems. Behavior problems are correlated with parenting behaviors; however, less research has investigated the relations among specific parenting behaviors and change in child behavior problems, particularly among children with ASD. Method: This study examined the interactions among Time 1 ASD symptom severity and parenting behaviors (positive and negative) when predicting Time 2 child internalizing and externalizing behaviors (analyzed separately), when accounting for Time 1 child behavior, caregiver distress, caregiver sex, and child age. The sample included 129 caregivers of a child with ASD (ages 4-10 years) who completed two online questionnaires one year apart, which included measures assessing ASD symptom severity, child behavior problems, parenting behaviors, and caregiver distress. Results: Across two hierarchical multiple regression analyses, Time 1 child behavior, caregiver distress, caregiver sex, and negative parenting predicted unique variance in Time 2 child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The interactions between ASD symptom severity and negative parenting predicting externalizing behaviors and ASD symptom severity and negative parenting predicting internalizing behaviors were significant. Conclusions: Examination of plots of the significant interactions suggested higher levels of negative parenting may exacerbate later behavioral problems and lower levels of negative parenting may protect against later behavioral problems for children with less severe ASD symptoms but not for those with more severe ASD symptoms. Results have implications for interventions targeting parenting practices for children with ASD.