Influence of social support and severity of a child's autism on marital quality.

摘要

This study explored marital quality in parents who have a child with autism. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from married parents in South Carolina in an effort to investigate each parent's perception of marital quality and whether it is influenced by social support, the severity of their child's autism, or both. Marital quality was measured using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976; 1989). The Inventory of Social Support Scale (Trivette & Dunst, 1988) was used to measure social support. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used to determine the severity of the child's autism. Descriptive and correlation analyses were calculated for the 42 participants, and the quantitative findings indicated no statistically significant associations between marital quality and social support or marital quality and the severity of a child's autism. However, the qualitative data collected expanded on the data obtained from the three standardized instruments and suggested that social support as well as the child's severity of autism were influences on marital quality. Responses to the open-ended questions provided rich data describing ways the participants have defined their marriage to include the needs of their child. Overall, the study suggests that marital quality in families that include a child with autism is defined differently than other marriages and that their child's needs become a component of the parental relationship.