Longitudinal effects of social supports and stressors on help-seeking behavior among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high parenting stress levels. Therefore, these parents need the support of medical institutions and counseling agencies. We examined predictors of increased help-seeking behavior among 212 parents of children with ASD aged 2-18 years using longitudinal data. An online survey assessed help-seeking behaviors, intentions to consult, parenting stressors, and support expectations. The difference in scores between intentions to consult the internet or medical rehabilitation institutions, and help-seeking behavior were significantly higher for mothers than for fathers and the differences in scores for formal support was significantly higher than for informal support for mothers. There were no significant gender differences in help-seeking behavior between fathers and mothers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that the direct effects of support expectations and parenting stressors on help-seeking behaviors and the moderating effects of parenting stressors and support expectations on intentions to consults and help-seeking behaviors differed by social support resources. We have discussed the implications of these findings.