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The Broad Autism Phenotype and the Quality of Life of Parents Who Have Children on the Autism Spectrum

Received: 15 December 2021    Accepted: 4 March 2022    Published: 15 March 2022
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Abstract

This paper aims to study families who have children with autism spectrum disorder. The research interest was focused around the quality of life of these families, the factors affecting it and the occurrence of the autism phenotype in the relatives of children with the disorder. By studying the available literature, it became apparent that the autism phenotype in particular is a new area of research interest for the Greek data. For this reason, an attempt is made to study this phenomenon. In fact, it is of particular research interest to study the presence of the autism phenotype and the quality of the parents' friendships, how they may interact with the quality of life of the family. This study examines the broad autism phenotype and quality of life in parents of children on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development. 174 parents participated, from the Athens and Piraeus area with a mean age of 45.01 years (standard deviation = 7.9). Of the 174 parents, 119 were female (68.4%), and 55 were male (31.6%). The questionnaires were distributed to 99 parents who had children of typical development (56.9%) and 75 who had children on the autism spectrum (43.1%). The following questionnaires were used: a) the Greek version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), b) the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAP), c) the Friendship Questionnaire. The results showed that the presence of the autism phenotype is a significant predictor of poor quality of life and friendship for the parents. The autism phenotype was found to occur more frequently in parents who have children with autism. However, no significant differences in quality of life and friendship were found between parents with a child on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development.

Published in International Journal of Psychological Science (Volume 2, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11
Page(s) 1-7
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Broad Autism Phenotype, Quality of Life, Friendship

References
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[3] Bailey, A., LeCouteur, A., & Gottesman, I. (1995). Autism as a strongly genetic disorder-evidence from a British twin study. Psychological Medicine (25), p. 63-77.
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[11] Freeman, N. L., Perry, A., & Factor, D. C. (1991). Child behaviors as stressors: replicating and extending the use of the CARS as measure of stress: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, p. 1025-1030.
[12] Gottesman, I., & Goulde, T. (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: Etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal Psychiatry (160), p. 636-645.
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[16] Lee, L., Harrington, R. A., Louie, B. B., & New Schaffer, C. J. (2008). Children with autism: Quality of life and parental concerns. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (38), p. 1147-1160.
[17] Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam, K., & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple-and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical and Genetics, B (147), p. 424-433.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Athina Tzanakaki. (2022). The Broad Autism Phenotype and the Quality of Life of Parents Who Have Children on the Autism Spectrum. International Journal of Psychological Science, 2(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11

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    ACS Style

    Athina Tzanakaki. The Broad Autism Phenotype and the Quality of Life of Parents Who Have Children on the Autism Spectrum. Int. J. Psychol. Sci. 2022, 2(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11

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    AMA Style

    Athina Tzanakaki. The Broad Autism Phenotype and the Quality of Life of Parents Who Have Children on the Autism Spectrum. Int J Psychol Sci. 2022;2(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11,
      author = {Athina Tzanakaki},
      title = {The Broad Autism Phenotype and the Quality of Life of Parents Who Have Children on the Autism Spectrum},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological Science},
      volume = {2},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-7},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijps.20220201.11},
      abstract = {This paper aims to study families who have children with autism spectrum disorder. The research interest was focused around the quality of life of these families, the factors affecting it and the occurrence of the autism phenotype in the relatives of children with the disorder. By studying the available literature, it became apparent that the autism phenotype in particular is a new area of research interest for the Greek data. For this reason, an attempt is made to study this phenomenon. In fact, it is of particular research interest to study the presence of the autism phenotype and the quality of the parents' friendships, how they may interact with the quality of life of the family. This study examines the broad autism phenotype and quality of life in parents of children on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development. 174 parents participated, from the Athens and Piraeus area with a mean age of 45.01 years (standard deviation = 7.9). Of the 174 parents, 119 were female (68.4%), and 55 were male (31.6%). The questionnaires were distributed to 99 parents who had children of typical development (56.9%) and 75 who had children on the autism spectrum (43.1%). The following questionnaires were used: a) the Greek version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), b) the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAP), c) the Friendship Questionnaire. The results showed that the presence of the autism phenotype is a significant predictor of poor quality of life and friendship for the parents. The autism phenotype was found to occur more frequently in parents who have children with autism. However, no significant differences in quality of life and friendship were found between parents with a child on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AU  - Athina Tzanakaki
    Y1  - 2022/03/15
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20220201.11
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    AB  - This paper aims to study families who have children with autism spectrum disorder. The research interest was focused around the quality of life of these families, the factors affecting it and the occurrence of the autism phenotype in the relatives of children with the disorder. By studying the available literature, it became apparent that the autism phenotype in particular is a new area of research interest for the Greek data. For this reason, an attempt is made to study this phenomenon. In fact, it is of particular research interest to study the presence of the autism phenotype and the quality of the parents' friendships, how they may interact with the quality of life of the family. This study examines the broad autism phenotype and quality of life in parents of children on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development. 174 parents participated, from the Athens and Piraeus area with a mean age of 45.01 years (standard deviation = 7.9). Of the 174 parents, 119 were female (68.4%), and 55 were male (31.6%). The questionnaires were distributed to 99 parents who had children of typical development (56.9%) and 75 who had children on the autism spectrum (43.1%). The following questionnaires were used: a) the Greek version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), b) the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAP), c) the Friendship Questionnaire. The results showed that the presence of the autism phenotype is a significant predictor of poor quality of life and friendship for the parents. The autism phenotype was found to occur more frequently in parents who have children with autism. However, no significant differences in quality of life and friendship were found between parents with a child on the autism spectrum and parents of children of typical development.
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Author Information
  • Psychology Department, Hellenic American College, Athens, Greece

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