The relationship between self-compassion and parenting stress in parents with autistic children

Abstract

Parents of children with autism show higher levels of parenting stress than parents of other disabilities. The causes of parenting stress in parents can be due to factors from parents, child factors (autistic symptoms), and dysfunctional relationships between parents and children. Parenting stress can have a negative impact on a parent's life. One way to deal with this parenting stress is through self-compassion. Self-compassion is an individual’s attitude to have a good relationship with oneself to survive when experiencing adversity or suffering. Self-compassion is important for parents of autistic children, because with self-compassion parents can be more accepting of their current situation without judging themselves and reduce the stress felt by parents. So self-compassion is one way to reduce parenting stress experienced by parents. The purpose of this research is to know the correlation between self-compassion and parenting stress in parents with autistic children. This research is a correlational quantitative study using 348 parents with autistic children as the subject. Sampling retrieval used purposive sampling technique. The research uses 2 scales namely the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) and the Parenting Stress Scale. Data analysis uses product moment Pearson correlation through SPSS version 17. The result of correlation analysis shows is = -0,533 (p < .05), which means there is a significant negative correlation between self-compassion and parenting stress on parents of autistic children.