Psychosocial factors associated with the trajectories of interparental conflict for Australian fathers of autistic children: A longitudinal study across 10 years of child development

TL;DR

This study explores how fathers of autistic children experience partner conflict over 10 years and identifies factors linked to different levels of conflict.

Contribution

The study identifies distinct patterns of interparental conflict and their psychosocial predictors in fathers of autistic children.

Findings

Fathers of autistic children reported higher interparental conflict at multiple ages compared to fathers of non-autistic children.

Three distinct IPC trajectories were identified: low and stable, moderate and stable, and persistently elevated.

Factors like co-parenting support and father age predicted different IPC patterns among fathers of autistic children.

Abstract

Limited research exists on fathers’ experiences of interparental conflict (IPC) in families with autistic children. We aimed to identify: (1) the extent to which these fathers report IPC across 10 years of child development (4–14 years) and how this compares to fathers of non-autistic children; (2) distinct trajectories of IPC for fathers of autistic children and (3) factors associated with trajectories of IPC among fathers of autistic children. This is a retrospective study using a national dataset. Participants were 281 fathers of autistic children and 7046 fathers of non-autistic children. Although small effect sizes, fathers of autistic children, on average, reported significantly higher IPC when their child was 4–5, 6–7, 8–9 and 10–12 years of age, compared to fathers of non-autistic children. For fathers of autistic children, longitudinal latent class analysis revealed three profiles reflecting ‘low and stable’, ‘moderate and stable’ and ‘persistently elevated’ levels of IPC over time. Regression analysis revealed a range of predictors (e.g. co-parenting support, father age) for fathers of autistic children experiencing ‘moderate and stable’ and ‘persistently elevated’ IPC as compared to fathers who experienced low levels of IPC. There is a significant portion of fathers of autistic children who experience ongoing and heightened IPC, highlighting the need for targeted support.

Not much is known about how fathers experience conflict with their partners (either verbal or physical) while raising an autistic child. This study focused on understanding these experiences over 10 years, following children from the age of 4 to 14 years. The study had two main goals: (1) to track how fathers experience conflict with their partners over this time and identify different patterns to these experiences; and (2) to find psychosocial factors in early childhood that might impact these patterns. The study included 281 fathers of autistic children and 7046 fathers of non-autistic children who took part in ‘Growing Up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’. Using a statistical method to group fathers based on the partner conflict they reported over the 10 years, results showed that there were three groups: (1) ‘low and stable’, (2) ‘moderate and stable’ and (3) ‘persistently elevated’ experiences of partner conflict. Additional analysis showed that fathers’ confidence in their parenting, perceived support from their partners and concerns about their child’s language skills were associated with ongoing moderate levels of partner conflict. On the other hand, fathers who were older, had lower perceived support from their partners, partners experiencing psychological distress and higher parent-reported child social functioning were more likely to experience consistently high levels of conflict over time. In our study, we described different levels of conflict with their partners reported by fathers of autistic children. We also identified some of the factors that were associated with different levels of conflict. These might be used to inform interventions to reduce parental conflict in the future.

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