Mother-Father Physiological Synchrony During Conflict And Moderation By Parenting Challenges: Findings From Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Introduction: Despite robust evidence in the broader family process literature for within-couple associations between romantic partners' physiological responding, this linkage has not been tested directly among parents raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Explicit attention to these parents is warranted on the basis of the established family-wide challenges associated with the persistent emotional, functional, and behavior impairments typically observed in children with ASD (see Karst & Van Hecke, 2012). The first purpose of this study is to extend examination of within-couple associations between electrodermal activity (EDA) to mothers and fathers of children with ASD. The second purpose is to test 2 potential moderators of EDA synchrony reflecting heightened challenges among parents of children with ASD, namely parenting as an observed conflict topic and global parenting stress. Method: Both parents wore wrist sensors that captured continuous EDA during a recorded marital conflict interaction. Trained coders provided ratings of emotional intensity and conflict topics, including whether the topic of parenting was discussed. Parents reported their global level of parenting stress. Dyadic multilevel modeling was used to test our hypotheses and accounted for interaction factors (e.g., movement data, emotional intensity). Results: Findings identified significant positive associations between parents' EDA. One moderator result emerged; specifically, father EDA was a stronger predictor of mother EDA when parenting was discussed as a conflict topic. Conclusion: This study extends evidence of within-couple physiological linkage to parents raising a child with ASD and provides a foundation for future research examining the family-wide implications of this linkage.