Ekas, Naomi2025-05-052025-05-052025-04-24https://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/67048Parents of autistic children experience increased depression, lower marital satisfaction, and higher marital conflict compared to parents of non-autistic children. The goal of the current study was to identify which aspect of the marital relationship, conflict or satisfaction, predicts depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers of autistic children; and the extent to which these associations differ based on child, parent, and couple characteristics. The second goal of the current study was to examine the association between husband and wives’ reports of marital functioning and associations with their own and their partner’s depressive symptoms. Results indicated that children’s autism symptom severity and the parent’s subclinical levels of autism symptoms moderated the association between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms for mothers. For fathers, marital satisfaction predicted father depressive symptoms. Differential study findings suggest that clinicians should develop new or alter current parent-focused interventions to account for differences observed between mothers and fathers.Format: OnlineenPsychologyText