Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between perceived stress, emotional stability and coping self-efficacy and examined whether relationship status and number of children had an influence on these variables between groups of parents of children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD (N-124), 120 females and 4 males, took part in this study, with age ranging from 28-58 years old. It involved participants completing a quantitative survey consisting of 5 demographic questions and the following scales: The Coping-Self Efficacy scale, the TIPI scale and the 4-item Perceived Stress scale. Using a MANOVA on all hypotheses, it was found that both relationship status and number of children had no significant effect on the three variables. However, perceived stress levels significantly influenced emotional stability and coping self-efficacy in parents of children with ASD. This highlighted the importance of accurate stress management in parents in order to improve their coping self-efficacy and emotional stability.
