The Relationship between Parenting Stress and Parental Burnout among Chinese Parents of Children with ASD: A Moderated Mediation Model

This study investigated the role of resilience as a mediator and the place of residence as a moderator of parenting stress and parental burnout. The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Parental Burnout Assessment, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were administered to 249 Chinese parents of children with ASD (M = 33.95 years, SD = 7.6). Results show that resilience partially mediates the relation between parenting stress and parental burnout. Besides, both the effect of parenting stress on parental burnout and the mediating effect of resilience are moderated by rural/urban residence. This study highlights parenting stress is a risk factor for parental burnout and resilience is the potential mechanism underlying this relation. These findings provide implications for family services for parents of children with ASD.