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Abstract :
[en] Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually present more disruptive and aggressive behaviors than typically developing (TD) children (Farmer & Aman, 2011). These difficult behaviors from the child can put parents of these children at a greater risk of increased mental health problems than parents of TD children (Totsika et al., 2011). The use of specific emotion regulation strategies can be a strong protective factor against adverse life events (Troy & Mauss, 2011). Additionally, how parents perceive their children’s emotional difficulties is related to their own well-being (Davis & Carter, 2008). The current study analyses how parents’ emotion dysregulation (e.g. lack of adaptive regulatory strategies) and parents’ perceptions of their children’s emotion dysregulation (e.g. negative reactivity, easily frustrated, presence of disruptive behaviors) contribute to parents’ depressive symptomatology. 37 parents of children with ASD and 41 parents of TD children completed questionnaires regarding their depressive symptomatology, their emotion dysregulation, and their perception of their children’s emotion dysregulation. Parents of children with ASD, compared to parents of TD children, reported more depressive symptomatology and more emotion dysregulation in themselves and in their children. Regression analyses revealed that parents’ own emotion dysregulation and their perception of their children’s emotion dysregulation contributed to their depressive symptomatology above and beyond ASD diagnosis. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that parents’ emotion dysregulation mediates the relation between ASD diagnosis and parents’ depressive symptomatology. These results may have implications for the prevention and development of interventions on the well-being and mental health of parents of children with ASD.