Daily Mindfulness and Depressive Symptoms Among Parents of Autistic Children: A Dynamic Structural Equation Modelling...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Mental Health
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Parental mental health is crucial for child well-being.
• Autistic children's parents report elevated depressive symptoms.
• Daily mindfulness associations with parental depressive symptoms are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the day-to-day relationship between mindfulness and depressive symptoms in parents of autistic children.
• To examine the moderating roles of social support and child externalizing problems.

Main Methods:

• 15-day diary study with 210 Chinese parents of autistic children.
• Daily self-report measures of mindfulness and depressive symptoms.
• Dynamic structural equation modeling (SEM) for within- and between-person analyses.

Main Results:

• Mindfulness and depressive symptoms showed negative reciprocal associations at the within-person level.
• Social support positively moderated the mindfulness-depression link.
• Child externalizing problems were linked to higher parental depressive symptoms and greater daily variability in mindfulness and mood.

Conclusions:

• Fostering daily mindfulness is important for parental mental health.
• Supportive resources enhance the benefits of mindfulness.
• Interventions should address daily fluctuations in mindfulness and mood, especially for parents of children with externalizing behaviors.