Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the most rapidly growing childhood disability in America, affects people of all ethnicities, social classes, and genders. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only impacts the person who is diagnosed, but the entire family system. For instance, parenting a child with ASD has been linked with elevated parental stress and decreased marital quality. Although ASD awareness has recently increased, research is lacking in non-dominant populations such as African Americans. This study addresses the gaps in literature pertaining to African American parents of children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships and predictions of marital quality and stress among African American parents of children with and without ASD. Pearson’s chi-squares, Fisher’s exact tests, and binary logistic regressions were employed as statistical analyses for investigating the data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) (CAHMI, 2012c). According to the findings, a statistically significant relationship occurred in divorce rates between 65,115 Caucasian parents of children with and without ASD. However, there was not a statistically significant relationship in divorce rates between the 7,085 African American parents of children with and without ASD. Likewise, results indicated no statistical significant relationships existed between 3,548 married African American parents of children with and without ASD and marital quality. Findings also revealed no statistical significant relationship among 48 African American parents of children with ASD, children’s levels of ASD severity, and parents’ marital quality. Parent-related and child-related stressors were used to predict membership of parents with children and without ASD. Using logistic regression analysis with 693 participants, the largest statistically significant predictors for having a child with ASD were child-related stressors including (a) increased needs and demands and (b) child’s problems. The next largest statistically significant predictors for a parent having a child with ASD (n = 3,587) were parent-related stressors including (a) coping and perceived challenges and (b) health care access and quality. Limitations of the current study, clinical implications, and directions for future research were discussed.

Historically, interventions designed to impact the lives of disabled people were predicated upon deficits-based models of disability. This began to change with the introduction of World Health Organization (WHO) frameworks, particularly the International Classification of Function (ICF), that emphasized that disability could only be understood in the context of interactions among health, environmental factors, and personal factors and by examining the impact of such factors on a person’s activities and participation. The ICF identified personal factors as among the elements of a social-ecological model of disability but did not provide an extensive taxonomy of what constitutes such factors. The Positive Psychology of Personal Factors examines personal factors that come from the field of positive psychology and, as such, to begin to identify and build strengths-based approaches to promoting the full participation, dignity, and well-being of disabled people.

The aim of the book is to serve for clinical, practical, basic and scholarly practices. In twentyfive chapters it covers the most important topics related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in the efficient way and aims to be useful for health professionals in training or clinicians seeking an update. Different people with autism can have very different symptoms. Autism is considered to be a "spectrum" disorder, a group of disorders with similar features. Some people may experience merely mild disturbances, while the others have very serious symptoms. This book is aimed to be used as a textbook for child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship training and will serve as a reference for practicing psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, general psychiatrists, pediatricians, child neurologists, nurses, social workers and family physicians. A free access to the full-text electronic version of the book via Intech reading platform at http://www.intechweb.org is a great bonus.

This study studied the relationship between parental perceptions of stressors and indicators of resilience in families with children diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The following parental perceptions were surveyed; (a) parental coping level, (b) parental stress level, (c) child’s health, (d) child’s social and emotional functioning, (e) spouse/partner relationship satisfaction, (f) overall parental health as potential indicators of parental or family resilience. Secondary data from the 2011 National Survey of Children’s Health were used to examine the parent respondents (n = 1376) who were raising at least one child (ages 6-17) currently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The findings of this study suggested that parental stress is impacted by parental perceptions of their level of coping as an indicator of resilience. This study’s findings suggested that a parent’s perceptions of their level of coping is positively correlated with parental perception of the ASD child’s health, parental perception of their child’s social and emotional functioning, parental relationship satisfaction and parental health of families raising children with ASD. In addition, parents accessing the formal external support of counseling for the child with ASD as an indicator of resilience was analyzed for this research. These results vi specified counseling support to be negatively correlated with parental perception of the health of child with ASD as well as the mother’s perception of her overall health. However, the formal support of counseling as an indicator of resilience positively correlated with parental perception of coping, child social, and emotional functioning, father’s overall health, and parental relationship satisfaction. The final indicator of resilience analyzed in this study was the informal support of parents having an individual they could turn to in a time of need. This research indicated a relationship between the presence of an informal support system for the ASD parent and their perception of spousal relationship satisfaction and overall parental health. The study emphasized the potential benefits of incorporating indicators of resilience to counter the impact of families parenting a child with autism. Implications and recommendations for future research are presented for mental health providers, school, or community professional who are in contact with ASD families.

This dissertation, "An Exploratory Study on the Relationship Among the Child's Social Competence, Parenting Stress and Maternal Emotional Styles for Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder" by Shu-kay, Ngan, 顏書琪, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Previous research has been interested in studying parental emotion socialization practices in parents of typically developing (TD) children. The current study aimed to explore such practices among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Seventy-eight families participated in this study. Self-reported rating scales were adopted to measure the child's social competence, parenting stress and maternal emotional styles. As hypothesized, results showed significantly different patterns in maternal emotional styles between mothers of children with ASD and those with TD children. However, inconsistent to our hypothesis, the maternal emotional styles were found to be neither related to child's social competence nor parenting stress within the ASD group. Implications of findings on future research and practice are discussed. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5394316 Subjects: Children with autism spectrum disorders - Psychology Parents of autistic children - Psychology Social skills in children

New hope for parents raising a child with autism spectrum disorders In Raising Resilient Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, noted psychologists and bestselling authors Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Brooks teach you the strategies and mindset necessary to help your child develop strength, hope, and optimism. This is the first approach for autism spectrum disorders based in the extremely popular field of positive psychology. Drs. Brooks and Goldstein--world-renowned experts on child psychology and, specifically, resilience--offer you practical tips for long-term solutions rather than just quick fixes. Featuring dozens of stories and an easy-to-follow, prescriptive narrative, Drs. Brooks and Goldstein demonstrate how to apply resilience to every parenting practice when raising a child with autism spectrum disorders, preparing him or her for the challenges of today’s complicated, ever-changing world and helping your child develop essential social skills. Learn how to: Empower your child to problem-solve on his or her own Teach your child to learn from mistakes rather than feel defeated by them Discipline your child while instilling self-worth Build an alliance with your child's school