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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1433823

Perceived Quality of Parent-Child Interaction in Parents of Autistic Children: Relationship with Parental Education Level

Provisionally accepted
Feiying Wang Feiying Wang 1Wenchong Du Wenchong Du 2Lai-Sang Iao Lai-Sang Iao 2*
  • 1 Nantong Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Nantong, China
  • 2 Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Most autism research was conducted in Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) countries. This study is the first to examine factors that were associated with perceived quality of parent-child interaction in non-WEIRD parents of autistic children. Ninety-one Chinese parents of autistic children (82 females, 9 males) completed an online survey which involved two sections. The first section included demographics questions about the parent and the family, including age, gender, educational level, and household income. It also assessed parents’ perceived quality of parent-child interaction and their autistic traits. The second section included demographics questions about their autistic child, including age and gender, and assessed autistic traits and behavioural problems. Results indicated that parent’s education level was associated with and the only significant predictor of their perceived quality of parent-child interaction. The higher educational level in parents the higher quality of parent-child interaction was perceived by the parents. These findings underscored the significance of parents’ education level as a unique predictor of perceived parent-child interaction quality among Chinese parents of autistic children, providing implications to corresponding education and social policies in China and other non-WEIRD countries.

    Keywords: autism, Parent-child interaction quality, Parental education level, Chinese, Non-WEIRD countries

    Received: 17 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Du and Iao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lai-Sang Iao, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.