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Co-Parenting Quality, Parenting Stress, and Feeding Challenges in Families with a Child Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

113 parents of children aged 5–13 with ASD completed online surveys assessing co-parenting quality, parenting stress, and child feeding challenges. Results indicated that food selectivity was both the most frequently reported type of challenging feeding behavior and the most often reported as problematic but was also the only type of challenging feeding behavior that was not associated with parenting stress. Greater parenting stress was reported when co-parenting agreement and support were lower. Child disruptive behavior at mealtime was the only feeding challenge associated with quality of co-parenting. This paper points to the importance of addressing feeding challenges in addition to selectivity, such as disruptive mealtime behaviors, and doing so within the context of the family and home environment.

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Funding

This study was funded by a University of Missouri School of Health Professions Catalyst Fund Award.

Author’s Contribution

MT and AB conceptualized and designed the study. AB managed participant recruitment and data collection. MT conducted the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript. Both authors revised the manuscript and approved the final manuscript as submitted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Science, School of Health Professions, University of Missouri, 501 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Matthew Thullen

  2. Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions, University of Missouri, 801 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Aaron Bonsall

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  1. Matthew Thullen
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Correspondence to Matthew Thullen.

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Conflict of interest

Matthew Thullen declares that he has no conflict of interest. Aaron Bonsall declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Thullen, M., Bonsall, A. Co-Parenting Quality, Parenting Stress, and Feeding Challenges in Families with a Child Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 878–886 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2988-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2988-x

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