Parental Stress, Social Support, and Child Behavioral Outcomes in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Structural Equation Modeling Study

= 0.385). Parental stress was negatively associated with coping strategies (β = -0.382, p < 0.001). Social support was positively associated with both coping strategies (β = 0.427, p < 0.001) and parenting self-efficacy (β = 0.452, p < 0.001). Coping strategies (β = -0.286, p < 0.001) and parenting self-efficacy (β = -0.358, p < 0.001) were negatively associated with child behavioral outcomes. The direct path from parental stress to parenting self-efficacy was non-significant (β = -0.089, p = 0.164). Mediation analyses indicated that coping strategies significantly mediated both the stress-outcome and support-outcome relationships, whereas self-efficacy mediated only the support-outcome pathway. Serial indirect effects through coping strategies and then self-efficacy were significant for parental stress (β = 0.043, 95% CI [0.008, 0.078]) and social support (β = -0.048, 95% CI [-0.085, -0.011]). Findings highlight targeted interventions to strengthen social support, adaptive coping, and parenting self-efficacy. Coping-skills training and confidence-building may benefit children with ASD. The study supports a serial mediation framework: coping and self-efficacy are key pathways from contextual factors to child outcomes.