The stress on mothers at work increase with autism

Mothers with autistic children have so many demands from work and from home they are disproportionately and negatively impacted according to research done at Washington State University Vancouver.

Autism spectrum disorder, or autism, is a neurological disorder affecting the development of social and communication skills with more and more children diagnosed each year and impacting one in 150 children. 

The study covered the experiences of 3226 families in the states of both Oregon and Washington.  What researchers found is more than half the women worked fewer hours in order to care for the needs of their autistic child.  Three out of five could not work because of the demands placed upon them by the child's autism.  

In order to properly care for these children, one-quarter of the mothers had to take time from work to do so.  Many had not received a promotion, and nearly 60 percent had financial problems in the past year. 

Two-thirds of the parents said the mother's work outside the home was particularly impacted by their child's autism.

"We found that negative effects concentrate on the mother," said Dana Baker, lead author with Laurie Drapela of a paper published online this month in the peer-reviewed Social Science Journal.

Baker explains what happens with these mothers and why they have difficulty at work maintaining schedules and keeping up with work demands, and thereby not getting promotions or good pay.  What the researchers learned was mothers of autistic children have to take children to extra medical appointments, have conflicts with school schedules and teacher concerns about their child, individualized plans at school, and have to work around these extra demands.  The mother is then reprimanded at work, which causes her even more stress.

"Understanding how to adapt programs and policies to better fit the more intractable challenges of these parents represents a vital responsibility of the twenty-first century," researchers concluded.

In spite of these findings, however, that have been available for several years, the number of companies that allow mothers special time off has not increased significantly.  In fact few companies allow either parent time off when a child has a disability.  This is one of the more stressful factors in the economy, especially following a recession or when both parents have to work.

Because of the cost of raising an autistic child, and often the extra help that is not reimbursed by special funds, both parents are often called upon to do more than the usual parent.  The stress can be exacting on health and finances as well.

And that stress can often be lifelong, given the fact that the children will often outlive the parents, since the fact a child is autistic does not necessarily mean longevity will be impacted.

It is difficult for parents of autistic children to manage multiple responsibilities, and the time off from work that is needed remains part of the dilemma of working parents, particularly for mothers for whom the obligation most ordinarily falls.