Demographic, ecological and social predictors of quality of life among parents of autistic children: A multi-centre cross-sectional study

Parents experience lower quality of life due to the psychological, financial and social challenges of caring for an autistic child. This study aims to identify the independent demographic and social predictors of parents’ quality of life, to allocate support to parents who truly need it. Al-Subtain Academy and Baghdad’s National Center for Autism recruited 248 parents in a cross-sectional study from 3 January to 13 September 2024. Demographics, quality of life and social support were assessed using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Multiple linear regression models were significant for all domains except role functioning (p = 0.258). The explained variance ranged from 50.8% for health perception to 19.5% for physical functioning. Mothers reported lower health perception and physical functioning than fathers (p = 0.015, p < 0.001). Parents with chronic condition also reported lower health perception, mental health, social functioning and higher pain scores (p-values: <0.001, 0.029, 0.023, 0.014). In addition, parents of female children and those with comorbidities reported lower mental health (p-values: 0.018, 0.004). Marital satisfaction was positively associated with all domains except pain (negative association) and physical/role functioning (no association). In conclusion, mothers, younger parents, parents with chronic conditions or female children, or whose children have comorbidities should be prioritised during interventions that promote family functioning and social support. Lay Abstract Parents can face emotional and social challenges when taking care of autistic children, which can lower their quality of life. These challenges do not affect all parents in the same way. That is why we need to find out which parents are having more trouble, so that we can give more support to those who need it the most. Our goal was to identify which background and social factors are linked to lower quality of life in parents of autistic children. First, we found that parents of autistic children have lower mental and social well-being than physical quality of life. We argued that the type of challenges faced by parents might be the cause. We also detected lower quality of life among mothers, younger parents, parents with long-term conditions or autistic daughters, or whose children have other conditions besides autism. Finally, we found that marital satisfaction was the most important element in social support. Marital satisfaction is linked to a better quality of life in all areas except being able to do normal daily tasks and physical activities.