Parenting Stress, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Mothers of Children With ASD: Distinct Moderating Roles...

Parenting stress is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but these associations vary across mothers. Previous studies have generally treated self-compassion as a global construct, making it difficult to determine whether positive self-compassion and self-coldness play different roles. This distinction may be particularly relevant in the Chinese context, where mothers often face strong expectations regarding caregiving responsibility and social evaluation. The present study therefore examined the moderating roles of positive self-compassion and self-coldness among Chinese mothers of children with ASD.

A total of 175 Chinese mothers whose children with ASD were receiving rehabilitation services completed measures of parenting stress, positive self-compassion, self-coldness, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the main associations and interaction terms.

Higher parenting stress was associated with more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms. Self-coldness moderated both associations, which were stronger among mothers with higher self-coldness. Positive self-compassion did not significantly moderate either association.

In this sample, the associations between parenting stress and anxiety and depressive symptoms were stronger among mothers with higher self-coldness. Positive self-compassion did not show the same moderating role. These findings support the need to distinguish positive self-compassion from self-coldness and suggest that self-coldness may be particularly relevant to mothers' psychological symptoms. Longitudinal studies with more geographically diverse samples are needed to confirm these findings.