Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism Spectrum Disorders and Family Functioningand Family Functioning

Sabrina GrondhuisSabrina Grondhuis

Psychology and Social BehaviorPsychology and Social Behavior

University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, Irvine

May 31, 2008May 31, 2008

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Developmental disorder characterized by

3. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviorAmerican Psychiatric Association (2000)

2. Deficits in communication

1. Impaired social interactions

1 in 150 children is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2007)

The Current Project

Investigations into multiple areas:

- Social Support- Father Involvement- Marital Quality- Psychosocial Wellbeing

Social Support

Internal Support

- e.g. family

External Support

- e.g. friends

Social Support

Actual sources of

support

Perceived sources of

support

Internal External

Actual

Perceived

Actual Internal

Actual External

Perceived Internal

Perceived External

Terminology

Hypotheses

• Parents of children with ASD would utilize more external resources than parents of typically developing children.

• Parents of children with ASD will utilize internal resources less than parents of typically developing children.

Method

• Subjects from the existing UCI Autism Research Project subject pool

• Also recruitment from For OC Kids

• Mothers and fathers completed identical questionnaire packets and individually return them to the lab

• N = 48

The Parents• 32 Mothers (66.6%)• 16 Fathers (33.3%)• 14 Dyads, including one set of female life

partners

Marital Status• 85.5% Married• 2% Single, Never Married• 8.5% Divorced• 4% Widowed

The Parents cont.

Ethnicity:• 77% Caucasian • 2% African American• 10.5% Hispanic• 10.5% Asian/Pacific Islander

Education Levels:• 4% High School • 12% Some College• 44% Four Year College• 39.5% Advanced Degree

The Children

ASD• 25 children• Ages 6-17, M=11.5, SD=3.57

Typical Children•9 children

•Ages 9-14, M=11.2, SD=1.86

Measures

Actual Social Support– Family Support Scale, 19 items (Dunst et al., 1988)

“In the last 3 to 6 months, how helpful were each of the following in raising your child?” (1=not helpful at all to 5=extremely helpful)

e.g. Spouse, coworkers, special education teachers, doctors.

Measures Continued

Perceived Social Support– Social Support Behaviors Scale, 90 items

(Vaux, et al, 1987)

“How likely is it that somebody would” (1=no one would do this to

5=most would certainly do this)e.g. Would comfort me if I was upset

Would loan me a sum of money

FindingsCompared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with ASD reported lower means of:

Internal External

Actual

Perceived

Actual Internalp < .056

PerceivedInternalp < .003

PerceivedExternalp < .000

More Findings

Families with a child with ASD reported more actual external support (p = .019)

BUTwhen evaluating for sources applicable

to all respondents, there was no significant difference (p = .687)

Still More Findings

Findings were replicated when evaluating data based on:

- One member per family unit- Gender and ASD- Gender

Future Research

• Research is ongoing, so a larger sample for greater generalizability and to increase power to detect small and moderate differences

• Comparison to parents of children with other developmental disabilities

Thank you!Thank you!

Dr. Wendy GoldbergDr. Wendy Goldberg

Dr. Valerie JennessDr. Valerie Jenness

Agnes LyAgnes Ly

Maryam AbdullahMaryam Abdullah

Kara ThorsenKara Thorsen

Christine GarrisonChristine Garrison

Social Ecology Honors SeminarSocial Ecology Honors Seminar

Contact InformationContact InformationSabrina GrondhuisSabrina Grondhuissgrondhu@uci.edusgrondhu@uci.edu