Parents' perceived attachment, self-efficacy, and resolution in relation to a child's diagnosis of autism

The purpose of this study was to develop a quantitative measure of parents' resolution to their child's diagnosis of autism, and to relate their degree and types of resolution to their styles of attachment with others, attachment with their child, parenting self-efficacy, and changes in emotions. The participants included 137 parents and other adult caregivers of children with autism. An internet survey included measures of demographic information, adult relationships, child-parent relationships, parenting self-efficacy, initial and current emotions about the diagnosis, and the Parent Reaction to Autism Diagnosis Scale (PRADS). The researcher developed the PRADS survey by creating items reflecting parents' comments in each of nine categories from the Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (RDI). Scale scores were created for the total resolved and total unresolved items, and also for the items in each of the nine category domains. Internal consistency of items within scales was verified with factor analysis and Cronbach alpha coefficients. The participants scored significantly higher on the resolved total scale than on the unresolved total scale. On the profile of domain means, the participants scored significantly higher on each of the resolved domain scales than they did on each of the unresolved domain scales. Significant correlations showed that higher resolution scores were associated with the participants' having their child in behavioral treatment for a longer time, having greater satisfaction with their child's behavioral and school services, noticing earlier that their child may be having a problem, and having their child diagnosed at an earlier age. Higher unresolved scores were associated with the participants' being younger, having a younger child, giving lower ratings of their child's functioning level, being less satisfied with their child's behavioral and school services, and having their child diagnosed more recently. More highly resolved participants showed greater closeness in their adult relationships, while higher unresolved participants showed a less secure attachment pattern, with less closeness, less acceptance of dependents, and more worry about being alone. More highly resolved participants also showed a more secure child-parent attachment pattern, with greater closeness, greater sharing, and fewer conflicts with their child, while higher unresolved participants showed a less secure child-parent attachment pattern, with greater conflicts, less closeness, and less sharing with their child. The more highly resolved participants expressed greater parenting self-efficacy, including confidence managing behaviors, teaching skills, and advocating for supports, while higher unresolved participants expressed lower confidence in their parenting skills. The participants significantly decreased in their distressed and detached emotions and significantly increased in their positive emotions, from the initial time of diagnosis to the current time. Additionally, higher resolution scores were associated with greater decreases in distressed emotions and greater increases in positive emotions. The PRADS scale provides a profile of domain scores that can indicate an individual parent's areas of resolved strengths and areas of unresolved difficulties. This profile may help pinpoint specific, individualized supports of benefit to parents as they work towards resolution in relation to parenting their child with autism.