The Study of Relationship between Depression, Anxiety, and Stress with Social Support and Life Satisfaction in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face significant pressures and challenges that may expose them to different psychological problems and can lead to their greater propensity to use of aggressive behaviors and less use of health services and programs offered to these children. This has a negative impact on the childchr('39')s development and leads to more disruptive behaviors. Therefore, the present research studies the relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress with social support and life satisfaction in mothers of children with ASD.

In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, 47 mothers of children with ASD were selected by convenience sampling and completed the questionnaires of anxiety, depression, stress, social support, and life satisfaction.

Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was no relationship between life satisfaction score with depression, anxiety, and stress scores (P > 0.05) and there was a significant negative relationship between social support score with depression (P = 0.020), anxiety (P = 0.040), and stress (P = 0.020) scores. Moreover, there was a direct relationship between life satisfaction score and social support (P = 0.010, r = 0.323).

Increase of social support for mothers of children with ASD leads to their increased life satisfaction and decreased depression, anxiety, and stress. Improving the social support of these mothers seems necessary.