Investigating the Role of Social Cognition and Flexibility of Children with the Severity of Anxiety, Depression, and Stress Symptoms of Parents of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the mental health of parents of children with and without autism spectrum disorder, investigate the existence of a significant difference between the mental health of these two groups, and also investigate the effect of the severity of symptoms of autism spectrum disorder on the mental health of parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Method: The studied sample included ۸۰ parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (۷۱ women and ۹ men) and ۸۰ parents of children without autism spectrum disorder (۷۵ women and ۵ men) who were selected using the available sampling method. The tools of this research include Early Social Cognition Questionnaires (ESCI), Short Mealtime Autistic Behavior Checklist (BAMBI), Children's Behavioral Inflexibility Questionnaire (BIS), Modified Inventory of Autism in Childhood (M-CHAT), Lavibond Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). Was. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: The results of the independent t-test showed that the variables of autism severity (P<۰.۰۱), social cognition (P<۰.۰۱), depression (P<۰.۰۱), and stress (P<۰.۰۱) as well as food refusal variables (P<۰.۰۵) and the total score of anxiety (P<۰.۰۵) and depression (P<۰.۰۵) of parents have a significant difference between the two groups with and without autism disorder. Also, the results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the total score of anxiety and depression of the parents of the group with autism disorder is generally correlated with the variables of "behavioral flexibility level of the child with autism disorder" (P<۰.۰۵). The amount of stress of parents with a child with autism disorder is also related to the variables "behavioral flexibility of a child with autism disorder" (P<۰.۰۵), "refusal to eat by a child with autism disorder" (P<۰.۰۵) and also "anxiety and depression of a parent with a child with autism disorder". Autism disorder" (P<۰.۰۱) is correlated. Also, the level of anxiety of a parent with a child with autism has a significant correlation with the variables "level of behavioral flexibility of a child with autism spectrum disorder" (P<۰.۰۵) and "level of his depression" (P<۰.۰۱). Conclusion: The results of this study support the hypothesis of the existence of a significant difference between the two mentioned groups, as well as the impact of the severity of autism spectrum disorder symptoms on the quality of their parents' mental health, and show the need to pay attention to the psychological qualities of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder.

کلیدواژه ها:

Anxiety ، Depression ، Stress ، Autism Spectrum Disorder ، Social Cognition ، Behavioral Flexibility