TITLE:
Cognitive coping strategies, emotional distress and quality of life in mothers of children with ASD and ADHD—A comparative study in a Romanian population sample
AUTHORS:
Elena Predescu, Roxana Şipoş
KEYWORDS:
Quality of Life; Emotional Distress; Cognitive Coping; ASD; ADHD
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.3 No.2A,
April
16,
2013
ABSTRACT: The Quality of Life (QoL) represents a dimension of
the overall status and of the wellbeing that might be influenced by various factors. Mothers’ emotional and behavioral
reactions, when having a child with diagnosis of mental disorder, are
different depending on the emotional distress and cognitive coping strategies
used. The aim of this study was to assess the cognitive coping strategies,
emotional distress and the relationship between them and the quality of life
in mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to mothers
of children with Attention Deficit
Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Data were collected from 114 mothers of
children with diagnosis of ASD or ADHD.
Different psychological measurements have been used in order to assess
the quality of life (Family Quality of Life
Survey) cognitive coping strategies (Cognitive-Emotional Regulation Questionnaire)
and emotional distress (Profile of Affective Distress) of the parents. For QOL
and emotional distress, we didn’t find significant differences between the two
groups. The coping strategies of the mothers of children with ASD that
significantly correlated with the overall assessment of the family quality
were: positive refocusing, positive reevaluation and catastrophizing. The
results suggest that the use of adaptive coping strategies correlates with a
higher family quality of life, while for the maladaptive ones, the relationship
is reversed.