The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress in the Relations Between Parental Emotion Regulation and Parenting Behaviors in Chinese Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Dyadic Analysis

Little is known regarding the dynamic interactions between fathers and mothers in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during the parenting process. This study used an actor-partner interdependence mediation (APIMeM) model to investigate the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of emotion dysregulation and parenting stress on parenting behaviors among 211 pairs (total N = 422) of Chinese parents of children with ASD. The results indicated that for both fathers and mothers, there were significant indirect actor effects of parental emotion dysregulation on parents' own parenting behaviors through their own parenting stress. However, no significant direct or indirect partner effect was found in the analyses. These findings suggest that the emotional parenting dynamics occurred on the individual rather than the dyadic level in these families.