Association of Parenting Stress and Family Management With Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Latent Profile Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit emotional and behavioral problems, posing challenges to their overall development and well-being. PURPOSE: To explore the current status and latent profiles of emotional and behavioral problems in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and examine associated factors. METHODS: From April to August 2023, 268 dyads of children with ASD and their parents were recruited. Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the parent-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct patterns of emotional and behavioral problems. After the optimal profile solution was selected, associations between the observed covariates and latent profile membership were examined using the automatic three-step R3STEP procedure in Mplus. RESULTS: The detection rate of emotional and behavioral problems was 81.3%, and three latent profiles were identified. R3STEP analyses showed that parenting stress and negative family management were positively associated with membership in profiles characterized by more emotional and behavioral problems, whereas positive family management was inversely associated with high-level profile membership. CONCLUSION: Emotional and behavioral problems in children with ASD showed heterogeneous patterns. After accounting for uncertainty in profile classification, parenting stress and family management remained associated with latent profile membership. Family-based support strategies aimed at reducing parenting stress and strengthening positive family management may be relevant to the emotional and behavioral adjustment of children with ASD.