The Associations of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Neurodiversity-Affirming Attitudes with Psychological Distress and Caregiver Burden

Parents raising an autistic child face unique psychosocial challenges compared to raising a neurotypical child, including greater psychological distress and burden. Because poor parental psychosocial functioning predicts poorer mental health outcomes for autistic children, a better understanding of the factors which promote healthy parental functioning is needed. Attitudes towards autism have been shown to mitigate poor outcomes, with past research suggesting that mothers who think of autism as a neurodevelopmental difference (those who hold neurodiversity-affirming attitudes) report fewer mental health symptoms, however, it is unclear whether this link is the same for fathers raising autistic children. To explore this, the current study surveyed 91 mothers and fathers raising autistic children between the ages of 2 and 18 years about their psychological distress, caregiver burden, and neurodiversity-affirming attitudes. Results suggest that mothers and fathers endorse neurodiversity-affirming attitudes at similar rates and that such attitudes are inversely associated with distress. This association, however, becomes non-significant when controlling for a child’s autistic characteristics and parents’ perceived social support. By contrast, fathers’ neurodiversity-affirming attitudes are positively related to burden while mothers’ attitudes are not related to burden, suggesting such attitudes may not be equally protective for mothers and fathers.