Mindful Parenting and Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Chain Mediating Role of Parenting Stress and Family Management

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a continuously rising global prevalence, imposing a heavy burden on affected families and society. Emotional and behavioural problems are the most common comorbidities of ASD and severely impair the long-term prognosis of affected children. While mindful parenting represents a validated positive parenting model, the internal mechanisms underlying its association with emotional and behavioural developmental outcomes in children with ASD remain unclear. This study adopted a cross-sectional design. Between April and August 2023, 268 parent–child dyads were recruited via convenience sampling from hospitals and special education settings in Jinan, China. Validated instruments were used to assess mindful parenting, parenting stress, family management, and child emotional and behavioural problems, and data were analysed using path analysis with observed variables. The results showed that the sequential chain mediation pathway was fully consistent with the data for total difficulties, with the total indirect effect accounting for 66.71% of the total association. For prosocial behaviour, the model received only partial support, with a 61.54% total indirect association, as the unique indirect path via parenting stress did not reach statistical significance. These findings indicate that mindful parenting is associated with fewer child difficulties through a sequence involving reduced parenting stress and better family management. For prosocial behaviour, this association appears primarily linked to family management, with no significant unique contribution of parenting stress. The study reveals potential family process mechanisms and can inform the development of family-centred interventions.