Religious Coping by Mothers of Children with Autism

Raising a child with autism can be a great source of stress and may be linked to parents’ well-being and psychological distress. As such, it is important to understand the coping strategies commonly used by parents in order to offer the necessary support to improve quality of life. Considering the prevalence of religion in the United States, religious coping strategies specifically can serve as a helpful resource grounded in an important aspect of life for many people. The present study examined the role of religious coping specifically as a predictor of parent well-being. Forty-one mothers of children with autism completed measures of parental stress, psychological well-being, and religion and spirituality. Demographic information regarding the mothers and their children with autism was also collected. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that although stress significantly predicted parent well-being, religion and spirituality did not demonstrate any associations with well-being. Furthermore, religious coping did not moderate the relationship between stress and psychological well-being. Given that the sample did not appear to be heavily involved in organized religion, future research should explicitly compare associations between religious coping and well-being among highly religious and less religious parents of children with autism.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Davis, Richard Francis

• autism

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/59287

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/59287