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Coparenting Competence in Parents of Children with ASD: A Marker of Coparenting Quality

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Abstract

The coparenting relationship has been linked to parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and many other concerns associated with the development of children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD (N = 22) were interviewed to explore three domains of their coparenting relationship; (1) adaptation to the emergence of their child’s autism, (2) parenting their child with ASD, (3) expectations for their child’s developmental outcomes. The concept of coparenting competence, developed during analysis, describes collective perceptions of parenting efficacy. Parents linked perceptions of coparenting competence to their, ability to cope with diagnosis and parenting, motivation to do what they could for their child, and hopes for their child’s development. The concept of coparenting competence could play an important role in future research and intervention.

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Author Contributions

CDM conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript. JMSG participated in the design, interpretation of the data and preparation of the manuscript. RJF, ID and LKN participated in the design of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia

    Chris D. May

  2. University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Jennifer M. St George, Richard J. Fletcher & Ian Dempsey

  3. The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Louise K. Newman

  4. Family Action Centre, Academic Office Block 28, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Chris D. May

Authors
  1. Chris D. May
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  2. Jennifer M. St George
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  3. Richard J. Fletcher
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  4. Ian Dempsey
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  5. Louise K. Newman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chris D. May.

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Conflict of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

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

Implications for Clinical Practice

The development and application of measures to assess and monitor coparenting competence could have important implications for clinical practice. Applying measures of coparenting competence in clinical practice could lead to an understanding, founded in theory, of relations between coparenting competence and modes of intervention in families where parents are faced with the care of children with challenging developmental needs. This understanding could play an important role in guiding practice that helps parenting partnerships, regardless of their structure, to; make best use of their resources, cope with their child’s diagnosis, parent effectively, and sustain hope that their parenting will have a positive influence on their child’s developmental outcomes.

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May, C.D., St George, J.M., Fletcher, R.J. et al. Coparenting Competence in Parents of Children with ASD: A Marker of Coparenting Quality. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 2969–2980 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3208-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3208-z

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