Depression in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

The current study aimed to evaluate the levels of depression among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, and to detect their level of depression according to the variables of (age of the mother, number of children in the family, educational level of the mother, economic status of the family). The researchers adopted the descriptive approach in this study. The research community consisted of (400) mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (107) of them were selected randomly to be the sample of the study. The (PHQ9) scale, consisting of (9) items, was adopted as a research tool, (Frequencies and percentages, arithmetic means and standard deviations, Pearson and Cronbach's correlations, t-test for one & two independent samples, and one-way ANOVA) were used as statistical means.

The results of the study showed that (78.3%) of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder have (minimal to mild) depression, and (21.4%) of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder have (moderate to severe) depression. The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) depending on the variables (the mother’s age, the number of children in the family, and the mother’s educational level).While it showed that there were statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) depending on the variable of (the economic situation in the family), in favor of a level below the average, the researchers have concluded with a number of recommendations and suggestions.