Autism: Association Between Autism and Parenting Stress

Autism is a developmental disorder, whose etiology is still an active research. Objectives of this study are to identify: risk factors of parenting stress; statistical tools for analysis and interpretations of data to ascertain and reinforce risk factors; and recommendations to mitigate parenting stress of autistic children. Data: National Survey of Children with Special Care Needs (NS-CSHCN), 2005-06. Analysis was performed on NS-CSHCN (n=40,723). Among parents with autistic children (n=2,123), the highest adjusted odds of stress were reported associated with primary language (OR= 9.44), insurance (OR=0.34), and Respite care (OR=3.71). Parents with non-autistic children (n=38,133) was the reference population with 467 missing values. Recommendations: Re-evaluation to improve provider language services especially for CSHCN; Family centered public health delivery rather than patient-provider interactive approach.