Caregiver stress during the first year after diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder

•At the group level, there was no change in burden or marital adjustment at one-year follow-up, however, positive appraisals of having a child with ASD and provider support increased, whereas problem-focused coping decreased.•Individually, at one-year follow-up, about 30% showed negative change in burden or marital adjustment and 20% showed positive change of one-half standard deviation.•Multivariately, decreased problem-focused coping and increased negative appraisals and avoidant coping predicted caregiver burden.•Increased general social support and decreased negative appraisals and pile-up stress predicted marital adjustment, multivariately.

Caregiver burden and marital adjustment of mothers of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were assessed at baseline, i.e., within six months of diagnosis (n = 79), and again 12 months later (n = 65), using predictors from the double ABCX family adaptation model, e.g., life demands, social support, appraisal, coping. Although there were no changes over time in burden or marital adjustment, participants reported increased positive appraisals of having a child with autism, increased support from providers and decreased use of problem focused coping. Cross-sectionally at Time 2, hypothesized predictors of marital adjustment and caregiver burden derived from the literature and from stress and coping theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) were largely confirmed. Longitudinally, after adjusting for baseline levels in the multiple regressions, better marital adjustment at 12 months was associated with changes over time in three predictor variables: decreased negative appraisal, decreased pile-up stress, and increased general social support. Predictors of increased caregiver burden at 12 months, after adjusting for baseline levels, were increased negative appraisal, increased avoidant coping and decreased problem focused coping.