The effect of parental burnout on psychological adjustment among Chinese children with developmental disabilities: the roles of parental autonomy support and psychological control

Objectives: Children with developmental disabilities (DD) suffer from adverse psychological adjustment due to parental burnout. The current study aimed to examine how parental burnout affected psychological adjustment in children with DD, and the roles of parental psychological control and autonomy support as mediators. Methods: In the current study, 332 Chinese parents of children with DD were investigated using the Chinese versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Parental Autonomy Support Scale, Psychological Control Questionnaire, Parent Self-Report, and Parental Burnout Assessment. The data analysis approaches included correlation and mediation effect analyses. Results: The results indicated that parental burnout was negatively correlated with prosocial behavior and positively correlated with emotional/behavioral problems. Moreover, the mediation analysis showed that the effect of parental burnout on prosocial behavior was mediated by both parental autonomy support and psychological control, whereas the effect on emotional/behavioral problems was mediated by psychological control. Conclusions: These findings provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between parental burnout, parental psychological control, autonomy support, and psychological adjustment in children with DD, and provide theoretical guidance and empirical evidence for strategies to improve psychological adjustment in children with DD.