The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of parenting roles on parental stress of mothers of autistic children. The subjects who answered the questionnaires were 194 mothers of autistic children aged 4 to 14 years in Ulsan, Gyeonggido, Gy...
The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of parenting roles on parental stress of mothers of autistic children. The subjects who answered the questionnaires were 194 mothers of autistic children aged 4 to 14 years in Ulsan, Gyeonggido, Gyeongnam and Chungnam.
The independent variable which indicates parenting roles has the two subordinate variables which indicate respectively the role of an educational therapist and that of an educational supporter. The results of the study are as follows.
First, the levels of parenting roles and parental stress of mothers of autistic children were not significantly higher than those of mothers of non-autistic children.
Second, mothers of preschool autistic children were significantly required the parenting role as an educational therapist.
Third, mothers of autistic children who have not taken autism diagnosis showed the significantly higher stress and were required the more significant parenting role than those of autistic children who have done it.
Fourthly, jobless mothers of autistic children showed the higher parenting stress and greater parenting role than those of full-time or part time job mothers with autistic children.
Fifthly, mothers with low income showed a greater parenting role.
Sixthly, the highest effect on parenting stress to mothers of autistic children was the parenting role as their educational therapist and the next highest effect was the parenting role as an educational supporter in mothers of autistic children without autism diagnosis.
With the above results, the follows can be proposed for the social welfare of autistic children:
First, in order to decrease the parental stress of mothers of preschool autistic children, the parental education for acquiring the special knowledge is required.
Second, the establishment of the institutional system for the diagnosis of autism is needed.
Third, the program that can change the negative attitude of jobless mothers with autistic children is necessary.
Fourthly, in order to save the expense of the medical and educational cares of autistic children, the service which adjusts these children to the local environment and the environmental change is required.
In short, since autism is not a disease that is completely cured by the medical treatment, the whole social welfare plan for autistic persons should be pushed forward.