Linking Child Autism to Parental Depression and Anxiety: The Mediating Roles of Enacted and Felt Stigma

This study examined whether child autistic symptoms would heighten parental affective symptoms through evoking enacted stigma from the community (i.e., public and courtesy stigma) and felt stigma within the parents (i.e., vicarious and self-stigma). Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected from 441 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Path analyses showed that social communication and interaction deficits and restricted and repetitive behaviors in child autism were positively associated with public and courtesy stigma. While public stigma was positively associated with parental vicarious stigma, courtesy stigma was positively associated with parental self-stigma. Both vicarious and self-stigma were positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms among parents. Findings revealed how child autism could compromise parental well-being through exacerbating the family’s stigmatizing experiences.