INTRODUCTION:

History of autism is a relatively short one; it is embedded in a longer history of mental illness and mental retardation. The word “autism,” which has been in use for about 100 years, comes from the Greek word “autos,” meaning “self.” The term describes conditions in which a person is removed from social interaction hence, an isolated self. The new Latin word autismus (English translation autism) was coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1910 as he was defining symptoms of schizophrenia.

Victorian-era psychiatrist Henry Maudsley was the first to pay specific attention to very young children with severe difficulties in developmental processes he considered their deficits to be psychoses (Kaplan and Sadock., 1998). Leo Kanner a child psychiatrics of the Johns Hopkins Hospital first used autism in its modern sense in English when he introduced the label early infantile autism in a 1943 report of 11 children with striking behavioral similarities. Originally, autism was described as a child’s lack of responsiveness to environmental input and the child’s inability to relate to other people and various situations. Kanner suggested that the syndrome previously had been misclassified as mental retardation or schizophrenia. In fact, before the 1970s, children with any PDD often were classified as having a type of childhood schizophrenia (Petty, Ornitz, Michelman, and Zimmerman, 1984).

Early theories regarding the origins of autism placed fault with the parents (Bettelheim, 1967), particularly the mothers of children with autism, who were called “refrigerator mothers” and were blamed for the cold, unfeeling relationships that led to the social withdrawal of their children. In 1964, Bernard Rimland, a Psychologist in San Diego, California, who was the father of a child labeled “autistic,” published Infantile Autism. In it, he officially challenged the refrigerator mother theory. Rimland’s child had demonstrated autistic signs from birth, before any “parenting” had occurred. His analysis, which concluded that autism is an organic disorder with a possible genetic component, dramatically changed psychological and medical perspectives. He founded the Autism Society of America. In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Committee on Nomenclature and Statistics published the first formalized universal nomenclature, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, referred to as DSM (Kaplan and Sadock, 1998). In the first two editions, there was no mention of autism; the closest diagnostic option was childhood schizophrenia (Volkmar, Klin, and Cohen, 1997). In the third edition of DSH IV the criteria for diagnosis of autism was included.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in social interaction, communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. The word ‘spectrum’ helps to understand that there are a variety of factors affecting the unique presentations of autism that each child displays. A primary factor is the severity of the autism itself. Children can be affected by autism in a mild, moderate or severe way and may additionally have other learning differences. The Latin word autismus (English translation autism) was coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1910 as he was defining symptoms of schizophrenia. Leo Kanner of the Johns Hopkins Hospital first used autism in its modern sense in English when he introduced the label early infantile autism in a 1943 report of 11 children with striking behavioral similarities. Almost all the characteristics described in Kanner's first paper on the subject, notably "autistic aloneness" and "insistence on sameness", are still regarded as typical of the autistic spectrum of disorders. Autism is a brain development disorder that shows signs during infancy or childhood and generally follows a steady course without remission or relapse. Impairments result from maturation-related changes in various systems of the brain.Autism is one of the five spectrum disorders. Of the other four autism spectrum disorders, Asperger's syndrome is closest to autism in signs and likely causes; unlike autism Asperger’s has no significant delay in language development. Autism is found throughout the world, in families of all economic, social, and racial backgrounds. Autism is known as a ‘spectrum disorder,’ because the severity of symptoms ranges from a mild learning and social disability to a severe impairment, with multiple problems and highly unusual behavior. The disorder may occur alone, or with accompanying problems such as mental retardation or seizures.

Parenting:

Parenting is a process of raising and educating a child from birth, or before until adulthood. Parenting is what parents do to take care of their children. The fact is, what adults do in their role as parents has changed over the centuries, a function of technological, social, and economic adjustments. But, the goal of parenting has remained essentially the same, to enable children to become competent, caring adults who are able to function well within society (Maccoby, 1992). For any place and any era, attaining the goal is no mean feat. This seemingly innocuous generic prescription requires a plethora of specific parenting actions carried out over a lengthy period of time fitted to a particular child’s needs and executed within the boundaries of the resources and constraints present.

Tasks of Parenting:

Bradley and Caldwell, 1995 recently constructed a system for organizing the tasks of parenting which derives from systems theory, and is organized around the concept that the environment (parenting) helps to regulate the course of development (Sameroff and Friese, 1991). Central to our framework is the notion that optimal parenting (a facilitative home environment) is best conceived of as a set of regulatory acts and conditions aimed at successful adaptation and a successful exploitation of opportunity structures for children (Saegert and Winkel, 1990). This framework is also consonant with the idea that children are conscious agents who are active in adapting to their environments. Starting from this basic notion, they identified five basic regulatory tasks (or functions) performed by parents: a) Sustenance, b) Stimulation, c) Support, d) Structure, and e) Surveillance.

1). Sustenance:

Sustenance parenting acts and conditions that are designed to promote biological integrity. Parents must provide adequate nutrients, shelterm and conditions for the maintenance of health to ensure both survival and the level of biological integrity needed for physical and psychological development of the child (Pollitt, 1988). Parents also must protect children from pathogenic conditions such as pollutants, passive cigarette smoke, and exposure to heavy metals (Evans et al., 1991; Tong and McMichael, 1992).

2). Stimulation:

To ensure competence and continued effort toward life-enhancing goals, the environment must provide sensory data that engage attention and provide information on stimulation. There is an abundance of both psychological theory and empirical data to buttress the significance of stimulation for cognitive, psychomotor, and social development of children (Horowitz, 1987).

3) Support:

Optimal social-emotional development depends on having an environment which responds to human social and emotional needs. Such acts and condition are call support. Some acts of support are given in anticipation of unexpressed need, others following expressed needs. Emotions function to prepare human beings to take action in their own best interest. Parents must assist in enlisting and modulating the motivational properties of emotions to help ensure optimal fit with environmental demands. A supportive environment is one that provides guidance or direction for adequate functioning in other environments (Pettit, Dodge, and Brown, 1988). At its base, support is motivational preparation for encountering other environments.

4) Structure:

Optimal parenting consists not only in ensuring that sufficient amounts of stimulation, sustenance, and support, but in configuring or structuring a child’s encounters with those direct inputs so that fit is achieved. Good examples may be seen in the differential responsiveness of preterm infants and infants parentally exposed to drugs. Such biologically vulnerable infants often are overwhelmed by levels of stimulation that are quite comfortable for normal babies (Friedman and Sigman, 1996).

5) Surveillance:

This important regulatory function performed by parents (or their proxies) is called surveillance. Most commonly, surveillance has been thought of as keeping track of the child and of environmental conditions to which the child is exposed so as to protect the child from harm (Darling and Steinberg, 1993; U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, 1991; Peterson, Ewigman, and Kivlahan, 1993). Surveillance also includes observations of the child and the environment designed to determine how much the physical and social environment affords the child for productive and enjoyable engagements.

Parenting Styles:

Parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies parents use in raising their children. This style was developed by Diana Baumrind. There are four parenting styles authoritative, authoritarian, permissive parenting and neglectful parenting.

1). Authoritative Parenting:

This is characterized by high expectations of compliance to parental rules and directions, an open dialogue about rules and behaviors, and a child-centered approach. Authoritative parents, encourage the child to be independent. Authoritative parents set limits, demand maturity, but when punishing a child, the parent will always explain his or her motive for their punishment. Authoritative parents typically forgive instead of punishing if a child falls short. This is supposed to result in children having a higher self esteem, and being independent.

2) Authoritarian Parenting:

This style is characterized by high expectations of conformity and compliance to parental rules and directions. Authoritarian parents expect much of their child but do not explain the rules at all. Authoritarian parents are most likely to hit a child as a form of punishment instead of grounding a child. The resulting children from this type of parenting lack social competence as the parent generally predicts what the child should do instead of allowing the child to choose by him or her. They are socially withdrawn and look to other to others to decide what’s right. These children lack spontaneity and lack curiosity.

3) Permissive Parenting:

Permissive parenting is characterized as having few behavioral expectations for the child and is characterized by warm affect. Parents are nurturing and accepting, but non-demanding. This type of parent simply wants the child to like him or her at the end of the day and will do anything the child request to do. The resulting children are rarely punished and are generally immature. The children cannot control their impulses and do not accept the responsibility for their own actions.

4) Neglectful Parenting:

Neglectful parenting, also known a nonconformist parenting, is similar to permissive parenting but the parent does not care much about the child. The parents are generally not involved in their child’s life, but will provide basic needs for the child.

Importance of Parenting Behavior:

The way parents interact with their children has a direct effect on children behavior development, level of confidence, self-esteem, sense of security, emotional well-being, the way they relate to others, how they deal with authority, and their performance in school.

Parenting styles revolve around three important dimensions:

· Limit setting – the degree to which parents expect mature and responsible behavior from their children;

· Love – the way parents nurture their child by showing affection, approval and support for their development; and

· Respect – whether or not parents allow their children to express their own thoughts, beliefs, and feelings.

Importance of Parenting Style:

Research over many years has confirmed over and over that parenting style has a direct effect on how children grow and thrive. In general, children do better in life if they come from a home in which there is (authoritative) parenting. Children from Authoritative Positive Homes have good self-esteem and self-confidence, and have lower levels of anxiety and depression. They function better socially, academically, and in the work world, and have few, if any, behavior problems. They tend to become respectful and responsible adults.

Children from authoritarian homes have both low self-esteem and self-confidence, high levels of anxiety and depression, and tend to have problems interacting with others. Their academic achievement is usually average and they have some behavior problems. They also have persistent problems with authority.

Children from permissive homes have high self-esteem and self-confidence, and reduced levels of anxiety and depression, but they tend to do badly at school, show a lot of behavior problems, and lack respect and responsibility.

At the other end of the spectrum, children who come from homes in which the parents are unengaged have the negative outcomes as adults. They tend to have low self-esteem and self-confidence, high levels of depression and anxiety, and have poor social skills. They have a lot of behavior problems, do badly in school, have little respect for themselves or others, and lack of responsibility.

Importance of Parenting and Parent-Child Relationship:

The parenting play important role in determining child adjustment. Parent-child relationships were an important predictor of child adjustment throughout this period of development. Children who enjoyed positive relationships with their parents were less likely to engage in overt or indirect aggression, bully others, commit property offences, or affiliate with deviant peers. They also were more involved in their school work, had higher self-esteem and fewer internalizing problems, and were less likely to be victimized by others. In addition, reported fewer hyperactivity- attention problems, were more likely to use safety precautions and experienced fewer serious injuries. Children who perceived their parents as rejecting were especially likely to use alcohol, to smoke and to affiliate with deviant peers.

Research Review:

These results are consistent with a recent analysis of NLSCY data on the role of parenting in predicting behavior problems in younger children. Miller, Jenkins and Keating (2002) found that harsh parenting was the primary determinant of behavior problems for both 2-3 and 8-9 year-olds; indeed, a one-point increase on a 10-point scale of harsh parenting was related to a 50% increase in risk for behavior problems. Similarly, in analyses of the NLSCY data on 2-11 year-olds, Chao and Willms (2002) found that positive parenting practices LIKE responsive, rational, firm parenting had a variety of positive effects on children's outcomes, including levels of behavior problems and prosocial behavior. Moreover, the positive influence of responsive parenting on child adjustment increased with children's age. Their findings extend this work by showing that the quality of parenting continues to play a significant role in determining social and emotional adjustment as children move from late childhood to adolescence. Overall, these findings are consistent with other research on the importance of a positive parent-child relationship for adjustment (Aseltine, 1995; Smith and Krohn, 1995). As noted earlier in this report, though attempting to cope with difficult and distressing child behavior may lead parents to punish more and to be more rejecting and less warm, and parental rejection is likely to have stronger negative effects on child adjustment than the reverse (e.g. Simons et al., 1989).

Overall, the research studies results highlight the continued importance of the parent-child relationship as a determinant of child adjustment in adolescence. Although parent-child relationships undergo a transformation during adolescence, the quality of the parent-child relationship remains important in guiding adolescent behavior choices and determining psychological health. As autism is a permanent development disability which passes continuous demands on parents, understanding their parent’s style and the way they manage their Childs behavior problem is of utmost importance.

By understanding the parenting behavior rehabilitation professional can develop appropriate intervention programme for children with autism. A study conducted by Cynthia A. Frosch and Sarah C. Mangelsdorf (2001) on marital behavior, parenting behavior, and multiple reports of preschoolers’ behavior problem: mediation or moderation. This study examined associations among positive and conflictual marital behavior and multiple reports of child behavior problems. Parents reported on child behavior problem which were observed during parent-child interaction and couple discussion in the presence of the child. Study found less positive marital engagement and greater conflict were associated with observers’ reports, but not with parents’ or teachers’ reports, of more behavior problems. Associations between marital behavior and child behavior problems were not explained by maternal or paternal behavior; stronger support was found for moderating effects of parenting. Also, positive marital engagement was a slightly better predictor of child behavior problems than was marital conflict. A study on household chaos-links with parenting and child behavior was conducted by Coldwell, J., Pike, A. and Dunn J. (2006). This study examined whether household chaos was predictive of children’s behavior over and above parenting. In addition, they investigated whether household chaos acts as a moderator between parenting and children’s behavior. The results confirmed the links between household chaos and parenting, and indicated that household chaos is predictive of children’s problem behavior over and above parenting. In addition, in a minority of cases, household chaos played a moderating role between parenting and children’s behavior in that it exacerbated the effect of poorer quality parenting on children’s behavior. A study on adult attachment, parent emotion, and observed parenting behavior: Mediator and moderator models were conducted by Adam, E. K., Gunnar, M. R. and Tanaka, A. (2004). This study examined adult attachment classification measured in adult attachment interview (AAI) were related to maternal self-reported emotional well-being and observed parenting behavior and the potential mediating and moderating roles of maternal emotion. Result indicated that mothers classified as dismissing on the AAI reported significantly lower levels of positive affectivity. Mothers classified as preoccupied reported significantly higher levels of negative affectivity and anxiety. Preoccupied mothers were observed to be significantly higher on angry and intrusive parenting, but this association was not mediated by attachment-related differences in maternal emotion. Maternal emotional well-being did, however, moderate the associations between adult attachment and parenting behavior: dismissing attachment was significantly associated with lower warmth and responsiveness only among mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms. A study was conducted by Catherine R. Bond and Robert J. McMahon (1984) on relationships between marital distress and child behavior problems, maternal personal adjustment, maternal personality, and maternal parenting behavior. This study examined the relationship of marital adjustment to maternal personal adjustment, maternal personality and maternal perception of child adjustment, maternal parenting behavior, and child behavior. Results indicate that, compared to mothers in the martially non distressed group, mothers in the distressed group perceived themselves as significantly more anxious and depressed and perceived their children as having significantly more behavior problems, particularly in the area of control. There were no differences between the groups with respect to maternal personality. Martially distressed mothers showed less appropriate parenting behavior than did no distressed mothers and the children of martially distressed mothers were more deviant than were children of non-distressed mothers. Another research study on linking parental perceptions to interactions in young children with autism was conducted by Kasari C. and Sigman M. (1997). This study examined the relation of parental perceptions and observed parent-child interactive behaviors. Samples observed included normally developing children, children with autism, and children with mental retardation who were equivalent on mental age. Parental perceptions of children’s temperament and parental feelings of parenting stress were examined. Results indicated that parental perceptions of autistic children’s behavior were more often linked to actual child and parental behaviors than in the comparison samples. Parents who reported their autistic children as more difficult in temperamental styled had children who were less engaged during a social game with the parent and less responsive in interaction with an experimenter. Parents who reported greater stress had autistic children who were less responsive in social interactions with others. A research study on discrepancies between mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of son’s and daughters’ problem behavior: a longitudinal analysis of parent-adolescent agreement on internalizing and externalizing problem behavior was conducted by Krenke, S. I. and Kollmar, F. (1998). This study examined adolescent problem behavior was assessed by the youth self-report (YSR) and the child behavior checklist (CBCL) and parental stress and marital adjustment. Results showed that mothers and fathers showed high agreement, especially about their daughters, whereas parents and adolescents showed little agreement. Agreement was higher for internalizing than for externalizing behaviors. In general, adolescents reported more symptomatology than their parents did. However, mother’s ratings of their children’s behaviors were significantly correlated with adolescents’ self-ratings, but fathers’ ratings were not. Statistical tests of correlations showed that mothers experiencing stress caused by marital problems perceived more problem behaviors in their children. Fathers’ perceptions were relatively unaffected by personal adjustment. However, poor marital adjustment perceived by both parents showed a significant negative relation to adolescent externalizing problem behavior.

A study on the relationship between autism and parenting stress was conducted by Laura A. Schieve, Stephen J. Blumberg, Catherine Rice, Susanna N. Visser, MS and Coleen Boyle (2007). They assessed associations between parenting a child with autism and stress indicators. Result showed that parents of children with autism were more likely toscore in the high aggravation range, than parents of childrenwith developmental problems other than autism, parentsof children with special health care needs without developmentalproblems and parents of children without special healthcare needs. Parenting a child with autism with recent special service needs seems to be associated with unique stresses. Another study on behavior problems and parenting stress in families of three year old children with and without developmental delays was conducted by Baker, Bruce L., Blacher Jan, Crnic, Keith A. Edelbrock, Craig (2002). In this study they examined early evidence of behavior problems in three years old children with or without developmental delays and the relative impact of cognitive delays and problem behaviors on their parents. Child Behavior Checklists showed greater problems in children with delays than in those without delays. Parenting stress was higher in delayed condition families. Result showed that the extent of child behavior problem was a much stronger contributor to parenting stress than was the child’s cognitive delay. A research study on a possible contra-indication for early diagnosis of autistic spectrum conditions: Impact on parenting stress was conducted by Lisa A. Osborne, Louise McHugh, Jo Saunders, and Phil Reed (2008). This study investigated the impact of diagnosis of autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) in children on parenting stress. While there is increasing pressure to provide early diagnosis of ASC, there is a lack of evidence relating to the impact of early diagnosis on the parents. The children were assessed for autistic severity and behavioral functioning. Autistic severity predicted their parents’ first noticing a problem, and the speed of the latter, rather than the child's autistic severity, predicted obtaining an earlier diagnosis. The autistic severity of a child was related directly to parenting stress. However, earlier diagnosis may be detrimental to levels of parenting stress. While parenting stress declined over time from the point at which the parents had first noticed a problem in their child, it failed to change by any significant degree once the diagnosis of ASC had been received. Given this possible contra-indication for early diagnosis of ASC, it warrants caution and further investigation. A study was conducted by Jean E. Dumas, Lucille C. Wolf, Sandra N. Fisman, and Annie Culligan (1991) on parenting stress, child behavior problems and dysphoria in parents of children with autism, Down syndrome behavior disorders, and normal development. They assessed differences in parental reports of patenting stress, child behavior problems, and dysphoria that who had children with autism, behavior disorders, Down syndrome, or normal development. They controlled data for socio demographic differences across groups, and results indicated the following: (1) Parents of children with autism and behavior disorders experienced statistically and clinically higher levels of parenting stress than parents in the other two groups. (2) Parents of children with behavior disorders reported that their children presented behavioral difficulties that were statistically and clinically more intense and numerous than those of all other children. (3) Mothers of children with autism and behavior disorders experienced statistically and clinically higher levels of dysphoria than mothers in the other two groups which appeared to be specifically related to the stresses of parenting exceptional children rather than to personal dysfunction. In contrast, mothers of children with Down syndrome did not differ from mothers of non disabled children on any of the measures. Finally, no major effect of the children's age or gender was found across the four groups, except for the fact that mothers of younger (less than 7 yrs, 5 mos.) autistic children reported greater dysphoria than mothers in the other three groups. Winsler, A., Madigan, A. and Aquilino, S. (2005) was conducted study on correspondence between maternal and paternal parenting styles during early childhood. The goal of the present study was to investigate perceived similarities and differences in parenting styles between mothers and fathers in the same family. Results reveal only modest similarity in parenting styles used by two parents within the same home. Permissive (and to a lesser extent, authoritarian) parenting was somewhat positively associated across parents but no cross-informant association was found for authoritative parenting. Fathers perceive their spouses to be more authoritative, more permissive, and less authoritarian than themselves, whereas mothers only perceive themselves to be more authoritative than fathers. Parents who share similar parenting styles are more accurate at reporting on their spouses’ parenting styles than are parents with differing styles.

Another study on Child temperaments, differential parenting, and the sibling relationships of children with autism spectrum disorder was conducted by Institute on Human Development and Disability and UCEDD, College of family and Consumer Sciences, (2008). This study examined associations between sibling temperaments, differential parenting, and the quality of the relationships between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing siblings. The temperament dimension of persistence, but not activity level or emotional intensity, was found to relate to the quality of the sibling relationship. Effects were stronger for temperaments of the typically developing siblings, but persistence levels of both groups of children interacted to predict sibling relationship quality. Persistence also was the temperament dimension associated with differential parenting, with increased levels of differential parenting occurring when siblings, and to some degree the children with ASD, were low in persistence. When siblings were dissatisfied with differential parenting, quality of the sibling relationship was compromised.

CONCLUSION:

After analyzing various studies and literature it was found that only few research study was carried out on relationship between parenting behavior and behavior problems of children with autism. Research studies and literature revels that there is a direct relationship between parenting behavior and child behavior. Hence, in present study an attempt was made to study the effect of parenting behavior on behavior problems of children with autism. The present study has also explored the importance of intervention for both parents and children with autism spectrum disorders.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We acknowledge the valuable support from Dr Shazia Manzoor Post Graduate Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, J&K.

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Received on 08.06.2019 Modified on 10.07.2019

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2019; 10(4): 1059-1065.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2019.00173.6