Background & Aims: Autism spectrum disorder is a pervasive neurological disorder that affects many aspects of childhood development. This disorder is known as the most unknown and severe childhood disorder. According to the fifth edition of the Guidance and Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Disorders (2013), the criteria for diagnosing typhoid disorder include two main areas: first, the field of interaction and social communication, and second: limited and repetitive interests and activities (2). The occurrence of this disorder not only affects the psychological and social processes of children but also the occurrence of this problem causes psychological damage to the family and parents, especially mothers. Studies show that parents of children with pervasive autism disorders are more exposed to stress due to having disabled children than parents of children with other psychological disorders. However, screening results show that the prevalence of autism in Iran is about 77 per 10,000 children. Differences in the conditions of children with autism spectrum disorder compared to normal children who grow normally, also affect the parenting process. The results of a study conducted by Weiss et al. (2013) showed: high levels of anxiety, depression, decreased physical and mental health Behavioral problems of children with disorders, chronic and complex nature of the disease are among the factors that affect maternal parenting adequacy and this feeling of inadequacy and inadequacy in controlling the situation eventually leads to a decrease in parenting self-efficacy (8). Parenting self-efficacy refers to a parent's assessment of his or her abilities in the role of caregiver and refers to a parent's beliefs and judgments about his or her ability to organize and perform a range of child-related tasks. Parenting is very complex and parents try to do it in the best possible way.In other words, whenever there is a problem in the parent-child relationship, the parents blame themselves and question their competencies as a parent. The research literature on Autism Spectrum Disorder indicates that the main focus of research so far has been on people with the disorder and that less attention has been paid to the need for supportive and psychological interventions for parents, especially mothers; Also, with the advent of the second and third waves of psychology, the importance of addressing issues related to positive psychology has increased. Does psychological superiority fit with the experimental model? Methods: The research method was descriptive-correlation with the modeling approach of structural equations and the statistical population included all mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder in Tehran in 1399, which was estimated to be 900 people. In the present study, 380 eligible mothers were selected from the mentioned statistical population by available sampling method, considering the probability of falling. After executing and deleting the distorted questionnaires and hypert data, information about 362 people entered the final analysis. Criteria for inclusion of mothers in the study include having literacy education, willingness to cooperate in research, having at least one child with autism spectrum disorder in the age group of 7 to 18 years, no acute physical and mental problems and exclusion criteria include: specific physical problem in The length of the research was the unwillingness to continue to participate in the research, the completion of incomplete and distorted questionnaires and the lack of cooperation from participating in the research. In this study, in order to measure mental vitality, the state mental vitality scale (Ryan and Frederick, 1997) was used, which measures a person's current energy and vitality. This scale has 7 items, it is scored on a 5 point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The scores on this scale range from 7 to 35, and the second question is scored in reverse. The Parenting Self-Efficacy Questionnaire was introduced by Dumka et al. (1996). The answer to this questionnaire is graded according to the weekly Likert scale from 1 to 7. Questions 1 - 3 - 5 - 6-8 in the questionnaire are scored in reverse. The low score of the questionnaire is 10, the average score is 4 and the high score is 7. Scores between 10 and 20 indicate low self-efficacy. Scores between 20 and 40 indicate moderate parenting and scores above 40 indicate high parenting self-efficacy. The 12-item multidimensional questionnaire was developed by Zimmet, Dahlem, and Farley (1988), and included perceptions of social support adequacy in three sources: family with Articles 3, 4, 8, and 11, friends with Articles 6, 7, 9, and 12. And measures others with Articles 1, 2, 5, and 10 on a weekly scale ranging from strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 7. The results of the study by Zimet et al. (1988) showed that this tool has a validity and reliability for measuring perceived social support. The Kubasa Hardness Test (1982) was developed by Kubasa et al to measure cognitive stiffness. This test consists of 20 four-choice questions (never, rarely, sometimes and often) Results: After analyzing the results, the obtained results showed that the structural model of the research fits well are related with the collected data and parenting self-efficacy both directly and positively (β = 0.306, p = 0.001) and indirectly due to psychological hardiness (0.07).β, p = 0.001), as well as perceived social support directly and positively (β = 0.094, p = 0.100) and indirectly due to psychological hardiness (β = 0.306, p = 0.001) with subjective vitality of mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder . Conclusion: Stubbornness is a fundamental sense of control that allows the stubborn person to draw and access a list of strategies. Ultimately, stubbornness develops an optimistic view of stressors; In other words, the trait of fighting enables the stubborn person to consider even unpleasant events as a potential threat to safety, and all these aspects prevent or shorten the duration of negative stressful consequences, and in fact Stubbornness is a shield against intense physiological arousal due to stressful events, which is considered by other researchers as a factor of vulnerability to diseases. Psychological stubbornness acts as a moderator of the relationship between stress and psychological and physical illness. People with strong psychological toughness are less likely to suffer physical or psychological harm than people with poor psychological resilience in response to stress. Experimental findings also confirm the moderating role of psychological toughness in comparison with stress lateral pressures. Other findings indicate that there is no significant difference between the two sexes in terms of psychological toughness. According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that in order to increase the vitality and mental vitality of Iranian mothers with children with autism spectrum disorders, they should be identified and mothers' correct perception of supportive resources should be increased. Self-efficacy and parenting competence. Therefore, mental health professionals should put support programs for mothers at the top of mental health programs in the community to increase vitality and mental well-being. One of the limitations of this research is available sampling. Another limitation is that the statistical population of the research is limited to Tehran, which limits the decision to generalize the research results. According to the results obtained from research, it is suggested that research be conducted with the aim of psychological empowerment of parents, especially mothers, with an emphasis on promoting their mental vitality and well-being; Future research should also examine other predictive factors that may play a role in promoting mental vitality; Considering that the living conditions of other family members with children are the same as those of mothers affected by the disorders of the child, it is also recommended to study the indicators related to well-being and mental vitality in fathers and sisters. |
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