Publication Date
Spring 4-28-2010
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Major
Psychology: Child/Adolescent Development
Primary Subject Area
Psychology, Developmental; Psychology, Behavioral; Psychology, General; Education, Early Childhood; Education, Educational Psychology; Health Sciences, Human Development
Keywords
Autism, Development, Stress, Parents
Disciplines
Child Psychology | Special Education and Teaching
Recommended Citation
Wiggs, Tiffany R., "Stress Levels and Development: A Phenomenology of Autistic Children and Their Parents" (2010). Senior Honors Theses. 113.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/113
Abstract
Being a parent means taking on both the joys and struggles that come with it. When a parent discovers that his or her child has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the level of stress changes. It could be helpful to discover the severity of change that the stresses involved in parenting a child with ASD brings to the parent/child relationship and what effect this has on a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual development. To attempt to answer these questions, six parents were interviewed. Findings suggested that structure in daily living improves the quality of the child/parent relationship as well as stress relief to the parent.
