The Association between Parenting Stress, Positive Reappraisal Coping, and Quality of Life in Parents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Parents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children generally suffer from poor coping and an impaired quality of life (QoL). This systematic review investigates parenting stress, positive reappraisal coping, and QoL in parents with ASD children. A literature search was carried out for publications written in English on the selected investigation topics using five databases, namely, Scopus, PubMed, Wiley, ScienceDirect Online, and EBSCO. Only studies investigating or measuring parenting stress, positive reappraisal coping, and QoL in ASD were included. Our results indicate that parents with ASD children have high stress levels. This is associated with the ineffective use of coping strategies and a low QoL. Adaptive coping strategies are related to a higher QoL, whereas maladaptive coping techniques are related to a worse QoL. Positive reappraisal coping is negatively correlated to meaningfulness, and it is used by parents to change their daily routines in order to motivate themselves towards new and evolving goals in life. Finally, we found a significant negative correlation between parenting stress, positive reappraisal coping, and the QoL of parents with ASD children. Positive reappraisal coping as a strategy helps parents adapt to stress and was found to be a potential mediatory function between parental stress and QoL.