Peer-reviewed article
Seven-Year Outcomes in ASD: Associations with Parental Well-Being, Empathy, and Child Functioning
Elif Tortop, Fevzi Tuna Ocakoğlu, Sezen Kose ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5The study re-evaluated 64 people who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in childhood, seven years after diagnosis. Fifty-three still met the criteria for ASD and 11 no longer did. It looked at how autism severity and social skills relate to parents' mental health, empathy and the parent-child relationship. Greater autism severity went with lower social skills, lower parental empathy and more parental psychiatric symptoms. The authors conclude that parental mental health and empathy are linked to children's developmental outcomes and family relationships.
Key points
- 64 people diagnosed with ASD in childhood were re-assessed seven years later; 53 kept the diagnosis and 11 no longer met criteria.
- Greater autism severity was associated with lower social skills, lower parental empathy and higher parental psychopathology.
- Parental empathy and the positive dimension of the parent-child relationship were significantly higher in the group that no longer met ASD criteria.
- Parental empathy and child social functioning positively predicted quality of the parent-child relationship.
- Higher parental psychiatric symptoms and lower child social functioning predicted greater autism severity.
Limitations
The abstract does not say where the study took place or how participants were recruited, and the sample is small, with only 11 in the group that lost the diagnosis. The associations come from regression and correlation analyses, so they cannot show that parental well-being causes child outcomes.
Abstract
Introduction: The present study was conducted with objective of investigating long-term outcomes in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during childhood. Investigation focused on current symptom severity and social functioning, and it examined role of parental psychological well-being, empathy, and parent-child relationship. Methods: A total of 64 subjects who had previously been diagnosed with ASD were subject of a re-evaluation seven years after their initial diagnosis. Participants were divided into two groups: those who retained their ASD diagnosis (n=53) and those who no longer met diagnostic criteria (n=11). The clinical assessments comprised CARS, ABC, SRS, and ASSP for participants, and BSI, FAST, EQ, and PCRS for their parents. Multiple linear regression and correlation analyses were used to examine associations between autism symptom severity, social skills, and parental variables. Results: Greater autism severity was associated with lower social skills, reduced parental empathy, and higher parental psychopathology. Parental empathy (EQ) and positive dimension of parent-child relationship (PCRS) were significantly higher in loss of ASD group. Parental empathy (EQ) and child social functioning (ASSP) positively predicted quality of parent-child relationship (PCRS). Higher parental psychiatric symptoms (BSI) and lower child social functioning significantly predicted greater autism severity (CARS). Conclusions: The severity of autism and an individual’s social functioning are closely interlinked, with child characteristics having strong predictive power. Parental mental health and empathy have been shown to have a significant impact on the developmental outcomes and relational dynamics of their children.