THE EFFECT OF STRESS ON THE QUALITY OF THE PARENTAL ROLE OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Parents finding out that their child has been diagnosed with autism isa great stress, which changes family dynamics and patterns of family life. That is, great concern and the need to provide everything necessary for the adequate development and functioning of these children in everyday conditions. All these changes directly affect the quality of life of these families. The aim of the research was to examine the impact of stress on the quality of the parental role of children with autism, i.e. the difficulties and importance of these families compared to parents of children from the typical population.90 families participated in this study, 45 families with a child with autism and 45 families with children from the typical population. The age of children of both sexes is from seven to 10 years. Two measuring instruments wereused to assess the quality of life. The research results showed that parents of children with autism face a high level of stress, lower satisfaction with the parental role (38.87±49.78), a higher level of parenting burden (40.38±45.33) and the lower importance of the parental role (2.53±52.31) compared to parents of children in the typical population.Key words: autism, family, stress, quality oflife.