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A Time-use Study of Immigrant Mothers’ Positive Emotions Raising a Child with ASD

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Abstract

To understand Mexican heritage mothers’ positive emotional experiences raising their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we examined whether mothers’ positive emotions varied by their household income, educational attainment, and their occupational and marital status. We also examined how emotions varied by mothers’ interpersonal context (i.e., adults potentially available to provide support at various times of the day). Thirty-two Mexican heritage mothers who cared for at least one child with ASD completed five daily diary surveys over five days within a variety of interpersonal contexts. HLM analysis of 697 surveys showed that employed mothers reported less confidence than unemployed mothers (p < 0.05). Mothers who earned more than $25,000 annually reported being more confident (p < 0.05) and calmer (p < 0.01) than mothers who earned less than $15,000 annually. Mothers who experienced positive emotions (excitement, confidence, and calm) tended to report a higher household income and were more likely to be married. Notably, mothers’ education status did not predict positive emotional states possibly due to limited variability within the sample. Contrary to our expectation, mothers reported being more excited when they were alone with their child than when they were not with their child (p < 0.05), or when they were with their child and other family members (p < 0.01). This methodology provided a rich understanding of the heterogeneity of mothers’ positive emotional experiences in a population that is marginalized and understudied.

Highlights

  • This study used a time-sampling method to examine Mexican-heritage mothers’ positive emotional experiences during daily interactions with their children with autism spectrum disorder.

  • HLM analyses suggest that mothers with more financial resources and those who are married reported more positive emotional states throughout the day.

  • Mothers reported more positive emotions (i.e., excitement) when they were alone with their child than when they were with their child and other family members.

  • Autism interventions should incorporate activities in which mothers and their children can be alone together.

  • Interventions should include culturally meaningful daily routines that build on family capacity and cultural assets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education Studies, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Shana R. Cohen & Alison Wishard Guerra

  2. Department of Ethics Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    Hye Kyung Lee

  3. Department of Child Development and Guidance, Hannam University, Daejeon, Korea

    Soojung Kim

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  1. Shana R. Cohen
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  2. Hye Kyung Lee
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  4. Alison Wishard Guerra
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Contributions

S.R.C. conceptualized the paper, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. H.K.L. collaborated in running analyses and writing and editing the final paper. S.K. collaborated in creating tables, running analyses, and writing and editing the final paper. A.W.G. collaborated in interpreting the data and writing and editing the final paper.

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Correspondence to Shana R. Cohen.

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All procedures in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of University of California, San Diego research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Cohen, S.R., Lee, H.K., Kim, S. et al. A Time-use Study of Immigrant Mothers’ Positive Emotions Raising a Child with ASD. J Child Fam Stud 29, 2364–2376 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01732-2

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