(PS2-67) Maternal and Paternal Neurodiversity-Affirming Attitudes: Concordance and Psychological Functioning

Abstract Text: Parenting a child with autism presents unique challenges compared to raising a neurotypical child. As a result, parents of autistic children experience elevated levels of psychological distress (Hayes & Watson, 2013). These distress levels appear to be related to the extent to which a parent views autism as a variation of functioning (neurodiversity) or as a disorder characterized by deficits (medical model; Ferenc et al., 2023). The majority of this research, however, has focused on the perspectives of mothers, despite mounting evidence that fathers tend to have less positive views of their child’s autism than mothers (Hastings et al., 2005; Samios et al., 2009; Kayfitz et al., 2010; Pozo et al., 2011; Ekas et al., 2015; Garcia-Lopez et al., 2021). Further, it is unclear the extent to which viewing autism in a manner similar to one’s co-parent (attitude concordance) may relate to distress. To address these gaps, we are currently sampling mothers and fathers (current N = 20; target N =100) who are co-parenting an autistic child between the ages of 2 and 18. Parents complete measures of psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale), caregiver burden (Zarit Burden Inventory), social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), autism severity (Gilliam Autism Ratings Scale), and attitudes towards autism (Attitudes Towards Autism Questionnaire, ATAQ; Neurodiversity Attitudes Questionnaire, NDAQ). Both mothers and fathers report relatively high levels of neurodiversity affirming attitudes, however, concordance rates within dyads differ by measure. Using a difference threshold of ≤ 10% of total scale range to signal concordance, dyads show high (83%) concordance on a measure of neurodiversity attitudes broadly (NDAQ), but lower (50%) concordance on a scale assessing neurodiversity attitudes towards autism specifically (ATAQ). Further, members of discordant dyads (M = 53.3, SD = 21.6) report more mental health symptoms than members of concordant dyads (M = 42.3, SD =32.2). Results suggest that fathers' experiences may differ meaningfully than mothers. Further, the extent to which perspectives of autism are shared among co-parents may be related to the mental health experiences of parents. Inferential analyses with the full sample will enable examination of the extent to which dyadic concordance may be predictive of mental health experiences when considering other sources of social support and the severity of autism symptoms. These results will meaningfully inform our understanding of family functioning in the context of raising a child with autism.