IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2023i1p12-d1304786.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Immediate Caregiving Environment of Young Children with Autism: Findings from the U.S. National Survey of Children’s Health

Author

Listed:
  • Hong Li

    (Department of Doctoral Studies, Institute of Health Research, School of Nursing, Azusa Pacific University, 606 E Huntington Dr., Room 235, Monrovia, CA 91016, USA)

  • Teresa Dodd-Butera

    (Departments of Public Health and Doctoral Studies, Institute of Health Research, School of Nursing, Azusa Pacific University, San Diego, CA 92108, USA)

  • Margaret L. Beaman

    (Department of Nursing, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA
    Retired.)

  • Rebecca Burtea

    (Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA 91702, USA)

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disability that negatively affects children’s learning, motor behavior, social communication, and interaction. It was estimated that, in 2020, 1 in 36 children aged 8 years in the United States had ASD. Caring for children with ASD might exert significant psychological and emotional distress on parents. Receiving parental emotional support and fostering positive parent–child interactions at home have been identified as beneficial for the immediate caregiving environment for children with ASD. The current secondary analysis of the 2019–2020 National Survey of Children’s Health examined parent–child interactions and accessible sources of emotional support for parents caring for 3–5-year-old children diagnosed with ASD ( N = 243). Children with the following characteristics had higher odds of having ASD: male gender; having no private insurance or uninsured; and having less than excellent general health. Among parents, higher odds of caring for children with ASD were associated with accessing emotional support from various sources, especially from healthcare professionals and peers, and spending more time telling stories and/or singing to their children. Given these significant health disparities, educational interventions and strategies are needed to foster a positive home caregiving environment for young children with ASD, including equitable access to parent resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong Li & Teresa Dodd-Butera & Margaret L. Beaman & Rebecca Burtea, 2023. "Immediate Caregiving Environment of Young Children with Autism: Findings from the U.S. National Survey of Children’s Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2023:i:1:p:12-:d:1304786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/1/12/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/1/12/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nisreen Al Awaji & Monira Aldhahi & Shahnaz Akil & Salwa Awad & Eman Mortada, 2021. "Quality of Life, Needs and Fears of Mothers of Children with Disabilities in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dawid Szurgacz & Sergey Zhironkin & Jiří Pokorný & A. J. S. (Sam) Spearing & Stefan Vöth & Michal Cehlár & Izabela Kowalewska, 2021. "Development of an Active Training Method for Belt Conveyor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Alrubaian, Abdullah & Alkhateeb, Norah & Tamakloe, Deborah, 2024. "An exploratory study of Saudi parents' perceptions and beliefs about institutional and home care for children with disabilities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Aqeela Zahra & Muhammad Shehzad Hassan & Jae-Hyun Park & Sehar-un-Nisa Hassan & Nuzhat Parveen, 2022. "Role of Environmental Quality of Life in Physical Activity Status of Individuals with and without Physical Disabilities in Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-11, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2023:i:1:p:12-:d:1304786. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.