Parental Stress and Caregiver Role Modulate Child-Caregiver Prosodic Synchrony in Autism: A Computational Analysis

Parental stress influences parent-child interactions in typical development and is a prognostic factor of autism outcome. However, we still do not know to what extent parental stress affects parent-child interactions and whether caregiver role matters. This study explored the relationship between parental stress and prosodic synchrony in parent-child vocal interactions, drawing on complex dynamic systems and affective computing frameworks. We assessed 62 dyads (31 autistic preschoolers, interacting separately with their mother and father) during structured play interactions at two time points (12 months apart) along with perceived parental stress. We used a Deep Learning model to segment child-caregiver acoustic interactions with high accuracy automatically. Downstream, prosodic synchrony was modeled through cross-recurrence quantification analysis. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the impact of parental stress, caregiver role, and time on synchrony metrics. Models showed significant associations between parental stress and synchrony metrics for spectral and formant amplitude features. Higher stress levels were linked to less stable, predictable, and structured interactions. These effects were more pronounced in father-child dyads compared to mother-child dyads. Permutation analyses confirmed that these associations were specific to moment-to-moment coordination rather than general acoustic similarity. In autistic children, parental stress levels are linked with the temporal dynamics of parent-child prosodic synchrony, specifically affective speech and moment-to-moment coordination. It appears to be more pronounced in fathers. The results underscore the importance of fostering parental well-being and tailoring interventions to account for differences between maternal and paternal interaction patterns in autism.