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Support Needs of Fathers and Mothers of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Little research has examined the support needs of mothers versus fathers of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We identified and compared the important and unmet support needs of mothers and fathers, and evaluated their association with family and child factors, within 73 married couples who had a child or adolescent with ASD. Mothers had a higher number of important support needs and higher proportion of important support needs that are unmet than fathers. Multilevel modeling indicated that child age, co-occurring behavior problems, presence of intellectual disability, parent education, and household income were related to support needs. Findings offer insight into the overlapping and unique support needs of mothers and fathers of children and adolescents with ASD.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grants from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School (to S. Hartley), National Institute on Mental Health (R01MH099190 to S. Hartley), and the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (P30 HD03352 to M. Seltzer). We would like to thank the families who participated in this study for their ongoing support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI, 53705, USA

    Sigan L. Hartley

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Psychology, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI, 53705, USA

    Haley M. Schultz

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  1. Sigan L. Hartley
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Correspondence to Sigan L. Hartley.

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Hartley, S.L., Schultz, H.M. Support Needs of Fathers and Mothers of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 1636–1648 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2318-0

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