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The association between child autism symptomatology, maternal quality of life, and risk for depression

Benjamin Zablotsky1, Connie Anderson, Paul Law

  • 1Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. bzablots@jhsph.edu

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
|December 25, 2012
PubMed

Parents raising children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been shown to experience high levels of stress and report a lower quality of life. The current study examined the association between child autism symptomatology, mother's quality of life, and mother's risk for depression in a sample of 1,110 mothers recruited from a web-based registry of families with children with an ASD. Higher autism symptomatology and a greater number of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in the child were associated with an increased risk for current treatment of maternal depression and a lower maternal quality of life. The results highlight the importance of screening for depression, particularly in mothers of children with ASD and mental health and behavioral challenges.

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