Social Support and Stress among Parents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Children

Abstract

Common social interaction challenges, also patterns of restricted and repetitive behaviour, characterize Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study aimed to determine the relationship between the ASD child’s parents’ social support and parental stress. Samples of parents were collected through the National Autism Society of Malaysia. A demographic questionnaire, parents’ stress level was measured using the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) and perceived social support was measured using Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Findings revealed that ASD child’s parents were experiencing high social support, results showed a significant negative relationship between perceived social support and parental stress (p < 0.05).

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Parental Stress, social support

eISSN ©Year The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer– review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i20.3409