Abstract
Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience high levels of parenting stress because of an imbalance between childcare demands and availability of resources, which differs based on cultural environments. Parenting stress has significant correlations with developmental abilities in children. In children with minimal verbal abilities and ASD (MV-ASD), the relationships between parenting stress, cultural factors, and child abilities are critical but not well defined. In the current study, I explore the relationship between parenting stress, cultural value of the parents, and child abilities in children with MV-ASD from South India and the Midwestern U.S. Standardized parent-reported measures were used to collect data on parenting stress, cultural value of the parents, and child abilities. A total of 70 parents of children with MV-ASD participated, including 35 from South India and 35 from the Midwestern U.S. The results indicate a statistically significant correlation between child communication abilities, as well as between child abilities and parenting stress. Results did not show a significant moderating effect of cultural value of the parents on the relationship between communication abilities and parenting stress. We need a more sensitive measure of culture to assess its effects on communication skills in children and parenting stress of parents. Overall, this study highlights the influence of various child factors and parenting stress on communication and other developmental skills in children with MV-ASD.