(PS4-20) A Transdiagnostic Comparison of Mindfulness and Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Delay, and Fragile X Syndrome

Introduction:  Mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)—including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental delay (DD), and fragile X syndrome (FXS)—tend to report higher levels of parenting stress, and particularly high levels of parenting daily hassles (PDH), compared to mothers of children with neurotypical development. Mindfulness has been associated with reductions in parenting stress among mothers of children with and without IDD/ASD, and mindfulness-based intervention approaches have been rigorously tested among caregivers of children with ASD and DD but not FXS. No study, to date, has examined how the relationship between mindfulness and PDH may differ among mothers of children with ASD, DD, or FXS. This study compares levels of mindfulness and PDH among mothers of children with ASD, DD, and FXS, and explores diagnostic group (ASD, DD, or FXS) as a moderator of the relationship between mindfulness and PDH.

Methods:  Mothers (51% Latinx) of children (ages 3-18) with ASD (n = 166), DD (n = 113), and FXS (n = 74) completed measures of PDH (Crnic & Greenberg, 1990), trait mindfulness (Bohlmeijer et al., 2011), and mindful parenting (Jones et al., 2014).

Results:  One-way ANCOVA, controlling for child age, maternal education level, and annual household income, found that mothers of children with ASD, DD, and FXS reported comparable levels of trait mindfulness and PDH, ps > .05, but mothers of children with FXS reported higher levels of mindful parenting compared to ASD and DD counterparts, F(2, 351) = 7.49, p < .001, η²_partial = .05. Hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for child age, maternal education level, and household income, found that trait mindfulness (𝛽 = -.22, R² = .12) and mindful parenting (𝛽 = -0.29, R² = .18) were negative predictors of PDH, ps < .01. The association between mindful parenting and PDH was moderated by diagnostic group; this association was negative for all three groups, but weaker for parents of children with ASD compared to DD (t = -1.99, p = .048) and FXS (t = -2.01, p = .045) (∆R²= .01), ps < .05.

Discussion:  Findings highlight similarities in the intensity of PDH across groups and a potential proclivity for mindful parenting among mothers of children with FXS. Differences in the relationship between mindful parenting and PDH between groups suggest a need for population-specific studies of mindfulness efficacy and offer practical implications for individualized care. In particular, for mothers of children with FXS, mindfulness-based interventions that recognize and build upon their apparent proclivity for mindful parenting may attenuate the high levels of parenting stress experienced by this genetically vulnerable and empirically underexamined group.