Mari̇tal satisfaction of parents with children with autism spectrum disorder

The current study was aimed to investigate the relationship between the marital satisfaction, caregiving burden, parenting stress, parental burnout and perceived social support, among parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and to develop the Caregiving Burden Scale to measure the levels of caregiving burden of these parents. A total of 596 parents with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in the study. In the scale development process, SPSS and Mplus spftware packages were utilized for Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis; for testing the designed model, the Jamovi statistical program was used. An independent samples t-test was used to determine difference between marital satisfaction scores by gender, and to determine the mediating role of perceived social support in the relationship between caregiving burden, parenting stress, parental burnout, and marital satisfaction, the GLM Mediation Model was used. The findings indicated that the Caregiving Burden Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant difference in marital satisfaction scores by gender; there are negative and statistically significant relationships between marital satisfaction and caregiving burden, parenting stress, and parental burnout; there are positive and statistically significant relationships between marital satisfaction and perceived social support. Finally, it was found that perceived social support has a mediating role in the relationship between marital satisfaction and caregiving burden, parenting stress, and parental burnout. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to researchers, psychological counselors, and policymakers. Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, marital satisfaction, burden of disability, parenting stress, parental burnout, perceived social support