Parenting Strategies Used by Parents of Children with ASD: Differential Links with Child Problem Behaviour.
Elizabeth O'Nions, Eva Ceulemans, Francesca Happé and 3 others
PMID 31676915WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with ASD who had more reactivity, noncompliance or demand avoidance reported using more accommodating strategies, such as changing demands and avoiding triggers.
These links were measured at one time, so they do not show that accommodation causes problem behaviour.
Key findings
01In 222 parents of children with ASD, accommodation was linked to higher child reactivity, demand-specific noncompliance, socially inflexible noncompliance, extreme demand avoidance and intolerance of uncertainty.
02Accommodation was linked to less discipline, while reinforcement approaches were linked to more discipline, rules and positive parenting.
03Child factors explained 19 to 29% of variance in Accommodation, but only 2 to 4% of variance in Reinforcement Approaches.
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What it does not show
The data were cross-sectional, so the study cannot show whether child behaviour leads to accommodation or accommodation maintains child behaviour. Parenting and child characteristics were reported by one parent or caregiver, which can make relationships look stronger because the same person rated both sides. Most respondents were mothers, so fathers and other caregivers are not well represented. There was no typically developing or non-ASD clinical comparison group. Diagnosis was based on parent report and questionnaire cut-offs, not gold-standard clinical assessment, and IQ or verbal ability data were unavailable. Parents were recruited through social networks and snowballing, many were from the UK, and many had an interest in extreme demand avoidance, so the sample may overrepresent motivated parents who use accommodative strategies.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Stichting M.M. Delacroix and Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek. No author conflict of interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that accommodation causes or maintains problem behaviour. The study measured parenting and child behaviour at one time, so it cannot show the direction of any effect.