Examining the impact of emotional and behavioral problems on parenting stress in mothers of children with autism in Mongolia

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of emotional and behavioral problems on parenting stress among mothers of children with autism in Mongolia. The hypothesis is that if children with autism presented more problems on their emotional and behavioral aspects, the higher parenting stress perceived among the mother of children with autism. The convenience sample of the study was composed of 62 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. The present study used the Parenting Stress Index-Short form (PSI/SF) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which are translated into Mongolian language by research team. Using the current sample of mothers of children with autism, Cronbach`s alpha coefficients of PSI/SF-M was 0.94 and SDQ-M was 0.62 for our sample. Bivariate correlation between the variables measuring difficulties of child and parenting stress revealed the existence of small to moderate correlations between SDQ subscales and PSI/SF subscales. PSI/SF total score and SDQ total score are correlated significantly at 0.35 (p=0.01). Difficult child subscale is correlated mild to moderate with SDQ total score (0.53), emotional symptoms (0.37), hyperactivity/inattention (0.35) and conduct problem (0.50) in positive way. Strong correlations were found between subscales of PSI/SF (0.67-0.89). The result of multiple regression analysis indicated that in addition with emotional and behavioral problems of children, income sufficiency of household and social support variables is significantly associated with parenting stress of mothers.