Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 47, Issue 2, Pages 551-561Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/a0021268
Keywords
maternal well-being; depressive symptoms; anxiety; autism spectrum disorder; longitudinal
Categories
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [R01 AG008768, R01 AG008768-10, R01 AG08768] Funding Source: Medline
- NICHD NIH HHS [P30 HD003352, T32 HD007489, P30 HD03352, T32 HD07489, T32 HD007489-04] Funding Source: Medline
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Raising an adolescent or adult child with a developmental disability confers exceptional caregiving challenges on parents. We examined trajectories of 2 indicators of emotional well-being (depressive symptoms and anxiety) in a sample of primarily Caucasian mothers (N = 379; M-age = 51.22 years at Time 1) of adolescent and adult children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; M-age = 21.91 years at Time 1, 73.2% male). We also investigated within-person associations of child context time-varying covariates (autism symptoms, behavior problems, residential status) and maternal context time-varying covariates (social support network size and stressful family events) with the trajectories of emotional well-being. Data were collected on 5 occasions across a 10-year period. Average patterns of stable (depressive symptoms) and improved (anxiety) emotional well-being were evident, and well-being trajectories were sensitive to fluctuations in both child and maternal context variables. On occasions when behavior problems were higher, depressive symptoms and anxiety were higher. On occasions after which the grown child moved out of the family home, anxiety was lower. Anxiety was higher on occasions when social support networks were smaller and when more stressful life events were experienced. These results have implications for midlife and aging families of children with an ASD and those who provide services to these families.
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