Parental Stress and Coping in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Network Analysis of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emotional regulation skill development through techniques like CBT and mindfulness should be the primary focus of interventions for children with ASD to tackle their psychiatric profile's core affective issues. Parental training in adaptive coping methods, such as problem-solving and positive reframing, helps protect child outcomes from the effects of parenting stress. Clinical assessments of parental stress should be conducted regularly with ASD-specific tools like APSI while examining their connections to children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Schools and clinical services should incorporate parent-focused stress-management programs, such as structured parenting workshops, to enhance parental resilience and improve children's emotional and behavioral health. Clinicians can optimize treatment outcomes by applying a network perspective to pinpoint and address key symptoms, such as affective and oppositional behaviors, and coping nodes specific to each family.