Running Head: AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 1

Article Critique on Autism, Attachment and Parenting
Jennifer L. York
Liberty University
AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 2

Abstract

This paper examines Rutgers et al.’s research article regarding autism, attachment and parenting. It is a comparison of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Mental Retardation (MR), Language Disorder (LD), and non-clinical children. This article addressed the issues of autism, attachment security, and parenting among the clinical and non-clinical groups. The author’s attachment security research was conducted using a variety of both screening questionnaires, and several parental self-report questionnaires assessing their parenting styles, parental efficacy, experiences of daily hassles, social support and psychological problems. Through the use of these questionnaires, observations by pediatric psychologists, and a follow-up at approximately four years of age, it was demonstrated that the children with ASD were rated less securely attached than both other clinical and non-clinical groups. Also, the parents of children with ASD reported a less authoritative parenting style and felt they received less social support than the parents of non-clinical children. This paper will delve deeper into their research and consider the results as it applies to the discipline.

AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 3
Article Critique on Autism, Attachment and Parenting The purpose of Rutgers et al.’s research on autism, attachment, and parenting was to study young children who, having been pre-screened early, would later in their development be officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. (Rutgers et al., 2007).
Critical Summary
The participants in Rutgers, et al.’s research came from an initial group of 31,000 14-15 month old children. These children were pre-screened with a 4 item Early Screening of Autistic Traits and those who had a positive pre-screening were further screened using a 14 item ESAT. Those children who scored high on the 14 item ESAT were also observed with the Attachment Q-Sort (Rutgers et al, 2007). These screenings and observations narrowed the participants down to the final group of 89 children, 65 boys and 24 girls. Within this group the participants were diagnosed with Autism Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, mental retardation without ASD, or language disorder. This is an unfortunately small group that posed limitations on the study.
In Rutgers et al.’s (2007) article, I found there were several hypotheses being tested. The first hypothesis focused on comparing the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with and without Mental Retardation, and the children who were clinically diagnosed with Mental Retardation and Language Disorder. The question being examined in this hypothesis was whether children with ASD demonstrate less attachment security than the other clinical children. Hypothesis two focused on the parents of the other clinical group feeling more tensions and burdens than the parents of the non-clinical group. It was already theorized that the parents of
AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 4 children with ASD may demonstrate a more rigid parenting style and may also experience more psychological problems than the non-clinical parents. The question in this hypothesis was whether the parents of the other clinical groups experience similar differences in comparison to the non-clinical parents. The third hypothesis was concerning Social Support and its effects on the daily stresses involved in having a clinical child. The questions attached to this hypothesis looked to see if social support acted as a buffer against the higher stresses and whether it helps to ease parent’s feelings of inefficacy. The types of research performed incorporated a large variety of questionnaires, scales and observations. There were different approaches used on the three different areas of testing. On studying autism there were was a questionnaire regarding developmental history, the Vineland Social-emotional Early Childhood Scales, standardized behavior observation according to the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, a pediatric examination and a pediatric work-up (Rutgers et al., 2007). After the five week period and from that information, an experienced child psychologist made a predicted diagnosis. Then at approximately 4 years of age a follow up was done that repeated all of the previous measurements but substituted the Vineland Scales with the Autistic Diagnostic Instrument- Revised. Studying attachment utilized the Brief Attachment Screening Questionnaire, which is based on the Attachment Q-Sort (Rutgers et al., 2007). To better understand the parenting styles and stresses of the parents of clinical children, five questionnaires were used. The first was a 22 item Parental Efficacy Questionnaire based on a theory of personal efficacy. The second questionnaire was the Child Rearing Practice Report. It was utilized to measure the authoritative or authoritarian parenting styles. The third tool employed was the 20 item Parenting Daily Hassles Questionnaire to assess the strains and stresses of child rearing. A fourth device was an 8 item Social Provision Scale that assessed the
AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 5 perception of emotional and instrumental social support. The fifth and final tool that Rutgers et al. utilized was the SCC-90 that assessed the parent’s psychological functioning. It measured agoraphobia, depression, anxiety, hostility and sleep problems, to name a few (Rutgers et al., 2007).
These studies established that children with ASD showed less BASQ attachment security than children of other clinical groups and non-clinical groups. The results reflected that the parents of clinical children demonstrated a less authoritative parenting style than the non-clinical children. The parents of ASD and clinical children experienced similar parenting hassles and psychological problems. The results could not confirm the role of social support as a moderator of effects on the parent’s feelings of efficacy and daily hassles (Rutgers et al., 2007).
Personal Reflection
This article could prove to be useful in understanding the other behavioral issues that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disorders demonstrate. It also raises awareness for the need of more social support for the parents whose children are affected by mental retardation and language disorders. If the article did not include the somewhat confusing statistical tables, it would be more understandable to the general population and would help raise awareness of the other disorders discussed in the article. By raising social awareness society would be helping parents to better cope with daily hassles associated with raising a child with disorders and is both beneficial to the parents and the children affected. The authors acknowledged their limitations, suggesting further research in other areas, but also had enough information to substantiate their findings. Overall the article was well written and, for the most part, understandable. I would definitely recommend this article to others, especially to those within the discipline.
AUTISM, ATTACHMENT AND PARENTING 6

References

Papalia, D. E., & Feldman, R. D., (2011). A child’s world: Infancy through adolescence (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Rutgers et al. (2007). Autism, Attachment and Parenting: A comparison of children with autism spectrum disorder, mental retardation, language disorder, and non-clinical children.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 859-870. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9139-y