How ethnicity and neurodiversity affect caregivers’ ideal affect: an exploratory study comparing Asian and European American parents of children with and without autism

Past research has shown that parents of children with autism have significantly higher parental stress and more risks of having mental illnesses. Among them, Asian-American families raising autistic children showed particularly concerning mental health conditions. These findings may result from misunderstandings of the populations’ culturally-specific needs (e.g., emotional goals). Therefore, the current study is aimed to initially identify the ideal affect of parents of children with autism. We hypothesize that: 1) parents’ ideal affect differs by ethnicity (Asian American v.s. European American); 2) parents’ ideal affect differs by neurotype of the children (autistic v.s. nondisabled); 3) ethnicity interacts with family neurotype to influence parents’ ideal affect; 4) after controlling covariates, a parent’s cultural orientation mediates the association between ethnicity and ideal affect. The current study will use a single online survey that includes assessments of parental stress and satisfaction, parents’ self-stigma, and their ideal effect and actual effect. About 120 participants will be recruited by sending flyers to national online autism communities, an autism service institution, and a research recruitment platform. The current study will provide a greater understanding of how sociocultural contexts shape people’s emotional goals and provide implications of Affect Valuation theory for clinical contexts.