Social inhibition and depression among couples who are parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: the mediating role of family support

Abstract

Background: The parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience more depression than those of children without ASD, which may further aggravate the condition of these children. Social inhibition is one of the risk factors for depression and common problem these parents meet. Family support can be productive against depressive symptoms and mediator on depression. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate how the social inhibition of couples might impact either their own or their partner’s experience of depression, with 'perceived family support' serving as a mediating factor among parents of children with ASD within the dyadic framework. Method: The study conducted a cross-sectional analysis with secondary data. The actor-partner interdependence mediation model analysis was applied among 397 pairs of parents from China. Inventory for Interpersonal Problems, Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support and Core Symptom Index were assessed. Results: Mean age of participants was 35.85 (SD 3.26). There were direct and indirect actor effects. Both wives’ and husbands’ depression were predicted by their own levels of social inhibition (β = 0.290-0.362, p ≤ 0.001). Regarding indirect effect, both wives' and husbands' social inhibition were associated with their own depression through their perceived family support (β = 0.010, p < 0.001). For partner effect, there was an indirect partner effect: wives’ social inhibition significantly impacted husbands’ depression through the wives’ perceived family support (β = 0.003, p = 0.018). Conclusions: In line with related studies, social inhibition was associated with depressive symptoms. At the same time, perceived family support could be the mediator on depression. Apart from targeted intervention to parents’ depression through social inhibition reduce and family support access, they may need to tailor special parental education and support based on their difficulties to help them better take care of their children.