The Relationship of Primary Caregiver Perceptions of Language and Behavioral Levels of Children with Autism to Primary Caregiver Stress and Ratings of Family Climate
Item
-
Title
-
The Relationship of Primary Caregiver Perceptions of Language and Behavioral Levels of Children with Autism to Primary Caregiver Stress and Ratings of Family Climate
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:dc958886b721:10992
-
identifier
-
11300
-
Creator
-
Connolly, Abigail A.,
-
Contributor
-
Georgiana Shick Tryon
-
Date
-
2011
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Educational psychology | Clinical psychology | Autism | Family Climate | Parental Stress
-
Abstract
-
The present study explored language and behavioral levels in a sample of 85 children on the Autism Spectrum between the ages of 6 to 12 years. It also studied the relationship of these levels to the primary caregiver's ratings of parental stress and family environment. Participants were primary caregivers of children diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. Language levels were measured by primary caregiver ratings of non verbal, pre verbal, phrase speech and verbal as defined by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord, Rutter, DiLavore & Risi, 2002). Primary Caregivers of verbal children also completed the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2; Bishop, 2006). Behavioral levels were measured as Externalizing and Internalizing by the Children's Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) completed by the primary caregivers and 71 of the children's teachers. Primary Caregivers also completed the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1995) and the Family Environment Scale (FES; Moos & Moos, 2002) to measure primary caregiver stress and family environment respectively. Results found a wide range of language functioning. Both primary caregiver and teacher behavior ratings did not reach Borderline Range. Externalizing and Internalizing behaviors were highly correlated among primary caregiver scores, but not for teacher scores. CCC-2 General Communication Composite (GCC) score yielded moderate correlations with both Externalizing and Internalizing primary caregiver ratings. Teachers' Externalizing scores yielded a mild negative relationship with primary caregiver rated language levels and teacher Internalizing scores were negatively associated with the CCC-2 Social Interaction Difference Index Score (SIDI).;In terms of Primary Caregiver stress, CCC-2 language scores suggested a differential effect of language functioning on Primary Caregiver stress. GCC scores produced moderate negative correlations with 3 of the 4 stress measures. The CCC-2's SIDI score produced a negative moderate correlation with the fourth stress measure: Parent Distress. Primary Caregiver behavior scores yielded moderate correlations across all parental stress measures. Teacher behavior scores paralleled the pattern of the language scores: Externalizing scores correlated significantly with 3 of 4 stress measured while Internalizing scores were associated with Parental Distress.;Language functioning did not seem to play a significant part in family climate. However, behavioral ratings suggested there was some link between the children's behavior ratings and family communication among its members. Overall, this study explored the differential effects of varying language and behavior levels on Primary Caregiver stress and ratings of family functioning in a sample of children on the Autism Spectrum.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Educational Psychology
