Factors Contributing to the Dynamic of a Family with a Child with Autism.

Factors Contributing to the Dynamic of a Family with a Child with Autism
Autism is a developmental disorder associated with difficulties in social communication and behaviours (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009). Predominant symptoms that are indicative of autism include problems with “verbal communication, uneven cognitive functioning, and impaired social interaction” (Bitsika, Sharpley, & Bell, 2013, p. 534). Other possible behaviours that have been linked to autism include irritability and self-destructive behaviours (Bitsika et al., 2013). Autism affects as many as “60 cases per 10,000 children 18 years old or younger” (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009, p. 83), with diagnosis rates rising each year (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Families with children with autism may have difficulty familiarizing themselves with their children’s diagnosis and requirements of care due to the different ranges of symptoms and severities (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009; Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Autism requires families to reorganize their habits and routines to accommodate for the new demands in care (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). For this reason, the family plays a valuable role in determining the developmental success of children with autism (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009). The presence of common factors affecting the dynamic of a family with a child with autism will be the focus of this paper.
Literature Review
Having a child with autism can add stress to family dynamics, due to the challenging behaviours, listed above, that the child exhibits. However, additional stress is not the only factor influencing the family dynamic. Protective factors that affect resilience, mental heath and dyadic relationships exist, which can either positivity or negatively influence family dynamics.

Resilience Factors
According to Walsh (as cited in Bayat, 2007) “resilience has been described as the ability to withstand hardship and rebound from adversity, becoming more strengthened and resourceful” (p.702). Families of children with autism can show resilience in the face of adversity when they are able to adjust to changes in their family dynamic (Bayat, 2007). Also, families that have higher socioeconomic status are also more likely to overcome adversity because this status is correlated with increased adaptive functioning, and thus being able to find more support in the community (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). However, this means that families with lower socioeconomic statuses are less able to adapt and seek these supports. Access to social support helps families cope with the disorder and strengthen their resources (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009).
Adjustment in family dynamic. According to the study conducted by Bayat (2007), families made positive meaning out of the hardships that they are confronted with as caregivers for children with disability, also known as adversity, by consciously changing to a positive outlook. As a result, many of the families reported increased feelings of compassion and care towards others, as well as decreased egocentrism (Bayat, 2007). In addition, Estes, Olson, Sullivan, Greenson, Winter, Dawson, and Munson (2013) emphasized the impact that parents have on children with autism by reporting how family members make personal adjustments such as, adopting realistic expectations of development and functioning, and refraining from allowing the diagnosis to permeate into every aspect of their lives. However, the severity of problematic behaviours exhibited by children with autism posed a significant adversity for these adjustments (Estes et al., 2013). Therefore, in order to help parents make personal adjustments, additional research on parent-focused interventions is needed to aid in behaviour management and to decrease behaviour problems (Estes et al., 2013).
Socioeconomic status. As previously mentioned, middle and high socioeconomic statuses have been correlated with better adapting than low socioeconomic status families, thus improving their ability to seek support and resources (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Therefore, another potential adversity to be overcome would be low socioeconomic status. Research speculates that differences found in adaptation between lower and middle to high socioeconomic statuses is due to the advantage of the latter group to financially afford better treatment for their child (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Perhaps further studies incorporating participants from lower income families could elaborate on Greeff and van der Walt’s findings and call attention to the added hardships experienced by families with financial difficulties and children with autism.
Social support. Social support from family and friends provides parents and siblings with new methods to help cope with the problematic behaviours exhibited by children with autism, such as aggressive and self-injury behaviours (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009). Social support is beneficial for families whether from extended families, friends, or the surrounding community, as these resources provide comfort during a crisis (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009; Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). “Early intervention approaches that focus on parenting strengths may be able to build upon and reinforce the positive coping strategies parents use and increase parent resilience” (Estes et al., 2013, p. 137). Reinforcing positive parenting strategies in these studies were exceptionally important for mothers of children with autism, as mothers had a tendency to take on the roles of primary caregivers and reported more anxiety and associated somatic symptoms than the fathers (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009; Hastings, 2003). These findings did not diminish the fathers’ need for social support. In fact, the fathers who participated in the research conducted by Altiere and Von Kluge (2009) reported a lack of social support from friends who either “did not comprehend the struggles associated with raising a child with autism…[or] because they were not able to spend significant time with them” (p. 89). Fathers, who attended social groups for support, reported a decrease in depression and were suspected to refrain from future withdrawal (Altiere & Von Kluge, 2009).
Social support was an important resource for alleviating the difficulties associated with children with autism, and was associated with positive family and child outcomes (Greeff & Van Der Walt, 2010). With the exception of the study by Greeff and van der Walt, the participants in these studies were fortunate to benefit from above average incomes that allowed them the opportunity to utilize social supports when needed. The participants also came from two parent households, leading to questions about the significance of social support in absence of a second parent. Greeff and van der Walt accounted for too many variables and resulted in small sample sizes that required further investigation.
Mental Health Factors
Parents’ mental health was greatly affected by the children with autism. Having children with autism increased parents’ anxiety, depression and stress compared to families with typically developing children, or other development delays (Weiss, Cappadocia, MacMullin, Viecili, & Lunsky, 2012). Studies have shown that the increased strain in mental health was from the typical symptoms that were related with autism including, “verbal communication, uneven cognitive functioning, impaired social interaction, and behavioural problems” (Bitsika, Sharpley, & Bell, 2013, p. 534). Possible influences that affected the parents’ mental health were: injuries children with autism self-inflicted during moments of frustration and aggression, and the general public’s lack of understanding of the children’s problem behaviour—parents felt that their parenting-skills were being judged (Bitsika, et al., 2013). No matter the reason for the leveled depression, anxiety, and stress, all research identified rearing children with autism as being additional stressors for both the mother and the father. Psychological expectations due to birth order also may influence parenting distress.
Depression, anxiety and stress. According to research studies, there were many conflicting results regarding how mental health affects mothers and fathers parenting a child with autism. Hastings (2003) found that depression was indifferent between mothers and fathers. In contrast, Bitsika, et al., (2013) suggested that there was a difference—mothers were affected by depression while the fathers were not (Bitsika, et al., 2013). Mothers had increased anxiety steaming from: their children’s behavioural problems, and, as a result of their spouses experiencing stress. However, fathers did not show any indication that they were more stressed based on their children’s behaviours or their wives’ stress levels (Hastings, 2003). It was hypothesized that mothers experienced increased levels of mental health symptoms that were attributed to more time with children with autism—routinely conducting more of the care giving activities (Bitsika, et al., 2013). Thus, it makes sense that the age of the child also influenced the mother’s stress and depression level. The younger the child was the more care they required and the more likely the mother would be stressed (Estes, et al., 2012).
Psychological expectations. The birth order of children with autism had affects on mothers’ psychological distress. Typically developed firstborns allowed parents to gain experience and skills that eased them into the parenthood of a second child with autism. On the other hand, having a first born without developmental delays may create expectations that become increasingly worrisome for parenting when their second born is not able to meet the same expectations (Estes, et al., 2012). Further research is required to accurately prove Bitsika et al’s results in a potential longitudinal study. Unfortunately, the voluntary survey may contain biases as parents self-edit or inflate their answers (Bitsika, et al., 2013). The research by Weiss et al (2012) was conducted online, limiting responses to those who have internet access. Also, the research failed to represent the whole population as the participants derived from one socioeconomic status and culture. Future research could focus on the fathers’ perspectives, as majority of the research available was centred on the mothers’ views.
Relational Factors
The diagnosis of autism requires all family members to alter their methods of interaction, thus affecting the dynamics of the family as a whole (Bayat, 2007; Greeff & van der Walt, 2010; Hastings & Petalas, 2014). In addition to the family unit, dyadic relationships between parents, between parents and children, and between siblings were also affected by the new demands of children with autism (Bayat, 2007; Greeff & van der Walt, 2010; Hastings & Petalas, 2014).
Parent-parent. Greeff and van der Walt (2010) used a combination of qualitative and quantitative measurements to determine the impact of the parents’ relationship on the family dynamic. The relationship between parents was cited as an important factor in the families’ adaptation (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Parents emphasized the significance of open communication with one another to ensure that their style of parenting was consistent and the children with autism were treated appropriately, respectably, and realistically in accordance to their level of functioning (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Participating parents also stressed the need to have moments away from the children to invest in their romantic relationship and utilize the social support provided from their partners (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Similarly, Hastings (2003) reported that “the mothers’ stress was associated with…the fathers’ mental health symptoms” (p. 235) which could be attributed to the responsibilities of the primary caregiver and/or the reduction of provided support during the fathers’ depression (Hastings, 2003). In contrast, Rivers and Stoneman (as cited in Greeff & van der Walt, 2010) found that “parental conflict and marital stress lead to behaviour problems, poorer adjustment, lower self-esteem and higher rates of depression in the siblings of children with autism” (p. 347). Further research is required to account for the mothers’ high anxiety levels, since more fathers are adopting the role of primary caregiver.
Parent-child. In addition to the potential problems caused by marital strife, siblings experienced changes in their interactions with parents. Parents required siblings to take on more responsibilities and also altered the habitual environment that siblings were accustomed to in order to accommodate the children with autism, which resulted in “feelings of guilt and shame” in the parents (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010, p. 347). However, Hastings and Petalas (2014) reported that siblings did not determine their mothers’ depression as influential on their ability to adapt to new family dynamics. Furthermore, the interactions between the parents’ and the children with autism required permanent changes in their routine as the children with autism relied on predictability to function in their daily lives (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010).
Child-child. Siblings of children with autism were robbed of typical sibling relationships when they were forced to take on caretaking responsibilities (Greeff & van der Walt, 2010). Older siblings reported being embarrassed in front of their peers by the children with autism; their peers either lacked understanding or held negative opinions about the children with autism (Hastings & Petalas, 2014). However, there was evidence of a correlation between the initial diagnosis and a decrease in sibling conflicts. It was hypothesized that siblings received appropriate social support and developed increased empathy and understanding for their siblings with autism (Hastings & Petalas, 2014). In contrast, Howlin & Rutter (as cited in Greeff & van der Walt, 2010), found siblings gained self-esteem and pride from their involvement in treatment programmes and day-to-day care of the children with autism. The conflicting results may be attributed to the influence of other dyad relationships within the family unit.

Last Completed Projects

Are you looking for a similar paper or any other quality academic essay? Then look no further. Our research paper writing service is what you require. Our team of experienced writers is on standby to deliver to you an original paper as per your specified instructions with zero plagiarism guaranteed. This is the perfect way you can prepare your own unique academic paper and score the grades you deserve.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]