ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1461040
RUNNING HEAD: Maternal distress, emotion regulation, and quality of life A Closer Look into Maternal Psychological Distress and The Associated Factors: The Case of Autism and Chronic Conditions
Provisionally accepted
- 1Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
- 2Department of Surgery II, Faculty of Medicine, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași, Romania
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This study investigated psychological distress in a sample of 211 Romanian mothers (aged 20-67, M = 38, SD = 8.07) of children with autism (30.8%), chronic illness (29.4%), or typical development (39.8%). Participants had either a child diagnosed with autism (30.8%), a chronic disease (29.4%), or no diagnosis, i.e., a child with typical development (39.8%).Participants completed self-report measures assessing psychological distress, emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), and health-related quality of life. Results indicated that health-related quality of life significantly predicted psychological distress across all groups of mothers. Furthermore, mothers of children with autism reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress compared to mothers of typically developing children. These findings highlight the need to support mothers raising children with autism or chronic conditions by addressing psychological distress and associated psychological and social challenges. Implications for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers are discussed.
Keywords: Mothers, distress, Children, autism, Chronic Disease
Received: 17 Aug 2024; Accepted: 30 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Maftei, Merlici, Ionescu and Roca. 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: Alexandra Maftei, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
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