Social Support, Optimism, Parental Self-efficacy and Wellbeing in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

It was hypothesized that optimism, self-efficacy and social support are positive predictors of life satisfaction and positive affect and negative predictors of perceived stress and negative affect. Data was collected by survey method from 47 mothers of autistic children in Lahore and Faisalabad. Hypotheses were tested on four models of four dependant variables using hierarchical regression analysis. Results depicted that parental self-efficacy was a significant predictor of all four dependant variables, social support was a significant predictor of life satisfaction and perceived stress, while optimism only significantly predicted variance in life satisfaction. The study was first of its type to be done with a sample in Pakistani context and has important implications for clinical psychologist. They can plan interventions to enhance subjective wellbeing and reduce stress directly or indirectly by focusing on antecedents tested in the study.