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Autism And Family Functioning: The Role Of Parental Coping, Liliana Vargas

Theses Digitization Project

The present study employed a family systems approach to investigate the effects of level of autism severity on family functioning as mediated by parental coping. Participants were mothers of children with autism who were volunteers in an ongoing research program conducted within a university-based treatment center (N=146). Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition (GARS-2) scores were available for all of the children and, as part of the broader program, parents completed the Coping Scale for Adults, which assesses a range of coping styles, and the Family Environment Scale, which provides positive and negative indicators of family functioning. Data analyses indicated …