Family Outcomes in Autism Spectrum Disorders

描述(由申请人提供)：据估计，目前美国每88名儿童中就有一人被诊断出患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)。很少有残疾比自闭症给父母带来的压力更大。有理论和经验证据表明，长期的育儿压力会影响婚姻适应。该项目的首要目标是研究自闭症儿童的自闭症症状和行为问题与婚姻适应之间的家庭内联系，因为这些过程是在自然主义背景下展开的，历时三年。具体的研究目的是：1)比较有自闭症儿童的夫妇和有无残疾子女的夫妇的自我报告和观察到的婚姻适应情况。2)测试儿童症状和行为问题对夫妻互动的家庭内日常时间效应。3)检查全球自我报告和观察到的婚姻适应的轨迹，跨越三年的四波数据收集。总共有175对已婚夫妇，他们的孩子患有5到12岁的自闭症，他们将参与这项研究。研究变量将通过自我报告和教师报告的措施以及跨越三年的四波数据收集的直接观察来评估。由150对有非残疾儿童的已婚夫妇组成的配对对照组也将在时间1参与，以了解患有自闭症儿童的家庭的过程与正常经验有何不同。婚姻适应与儿童症状和行为问题之间的联系将使用微观水平的量表(在时间1的14天每日日记)和宏观水平的量表(四波数据收集跨越三年)来检查这些变量之间的较长期的时间顺序路径。我们的主要分析单位是夫妻，个体(丈夫和妻子)嵌套在夫妇中。多变量多水平模型将被用来处理在多个时间点收集的配偶数据的相互依赖性(RaudenBush&Bryk，2002)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is now estimated that one in 88 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Few disabilities are more stressful on parents than ASD. There is theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that chronic parenting stress affects marital adjustment. The overarching goal of this project is to examine the within-family associations between the autism symptoms and behavior problems of children with ASDs and marital adjustment as these processes unfold in naturalistic contexts and across three years. The specific study aims are: 1) Compare the self-reported and observed marital adjustment of couples of children with ASDs as compared to couples who have children without disabilities. 2) Test the within-family day-to-day temporal effects of child symptoms and behavior problems on couple interactions. 3) Examine the trajectories of global self-reported and observed marital adjustment across four waves of data collection spanning three years. In total, 175 married couples who have a child with an ASD aged five to 12 years will participate in the study. Study variables will be assessed through self-reported and teacher-reported measures and direct observations across four waves of data collection spanning three years. A matched comparison group of 150 married couples of children without a disability will also participate at Time 1 to understand how the processes in families of children with ASDs differ from normative experiences. Associations between marital adjustment and child symptoms and behavior problems will be examined using both a micro-level scale (14-day daily diary at Time 1), to examine the unfolding of real time day-to-day associations in their natural and spontaneous context, and a macro-level scale (four waves of data collection spanning three years), to examine the longer-term time-order pathways between these variables. Our primary unit of analysis is the couple, with individuals (husbands and wives) nested within couples. Multivariate multilevel modeling will be used to handle the inter-dependence of spouses' data collected at multiple time points (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002).