Emotion regulation and self-inhibition’s association with mental health outcomes, caregiver strain, and well-being in parents of autistic children: a dyadic analysis

BACKGROUND: Parents of autistic children report more depression, anxiety, and caregiver strain, and poorer well-being than parents of non-autistic children. Though more research has begun to investigate how parent-specific factors may influence these outcomes, few consider cognitive factors like emotion regulation or self-inhibition. These skills may be particularly relevant given their documented benefits and associations with mental health and well-being in the general population. An important consideration when investigating the needs of parents is the interconnectedness of the family unit. Thus, methodologies that consider this shared context are essential to appropriately support resilience of parents of autistic children. METHODS: Our sample consisted of 263 different-sex parent dyads with at least one child formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, we assessed the links between parents' emotion regulation and self-inhibition and their own and their partner's depression and anxiety symptoms, caregiver strain, and well-being. Interdependence was established using correlations given the distinguishable nature of our dyads. RESULTS: Both mothers' and fathers' emotion regulation were associated with their own depression and anxiety symptoms, caregiver strain, and well-being. Stronger emotion regulation was associated with fewer mental health symptoms, less caregiver strain, and better well-being. There was only one significant association for self-inhibition: stronger self-inhibition scores in fathers were linked to better well-being. We did not observe any associations between parents' emotion regulation or self-inhibition and partner outcomes after false discovery rate correction. CONCLUSIONS: Emotion regulation, and not self-inhibition, emerged as an important source of resilience for mental health and well-being of parents of autistic children. Previous work has looked to reduce caregiver strain in this population through interventions that directly and indirectly target emotion regulation. Our findings highlight the need for further research on interventions that both directly target parents' emotion regulation skills and modify environmental contexts (e.g., social support, respite care) to enhance regulatory capacity and support parental resilience. As our work was cross-sectional, future work should investigate the causal relationship between emotion regulation, mental health, and well-being in parents of autistic children.