Autism Coping

J Autism Dev Disord (2010) 40:1485–1494 DOI 10.1007/s10803-010-1001-3

ORIGINAL PAPER

Sense of Coherence and Coping with Stress Among Mothers and Fathers of Children with Autism
Ewa Pisula • Zuzanna Kossakowska

Published online: 2 April 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract The purpose of the study was to compare the level of sense of coherence (SOC) in parents of children with autism and in parents of typically developing children, and to examine the association between SOC level and coping strategies. Two questionnaires were used: Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29) and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Parents of children with autism had a lower level of the total SOC, meaningfulness, and manageability compared with controls, and used escape-avoidance coping more often. No differences in SOC level were found between mothers and fathers. In parents of children with autism the SOC level was positively associated with seeking social support and self-controlling, and negatively with accepting responsibility and positive reappraisal. Keywords Autism Á Coping Á Parents Á Sense of coherence

Introduction Parenting a child with autism poses a number of difficult challenges. Research results show that parents of these children experience a significant amount of stress (e.g., Abbeduto et al. 2004; Duarte et al. 2005; Konstantareas and Papageorggiou 2006; Montes and Halterman 2007). They experience more stress not only compared with parents of typically developing children, but also compared with parents of children with other developmental dis´ abilities (e.g., Baker-Ericzen et al. 2005; Holroyd and
E. Pisula (&) Á Z. Kossakowska Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki Str. 5/7, 00-183 Warsaw, Poland e-mail: [e-mail]

McArthur 1976; Pisula 2007; Schieve et al. 2007; Yamada et al. 2007). The main burdens experienced by parents of children with autism include fears for their children’s future prompted by the fact

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