“Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism

Abstract Background Families are faced with enormous challenges in caring for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over a lifetime. As the main caregiver of children, mothers who have children with autism are in poor health compared to the mothers of typically developing (TD) children. Previ...

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Main Authors: Xue Du, Shuanghong Gao, Ting Huang, Jian Liang, Xiao Xiao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-02-01
Series:BMC Women's Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03534-w
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author Xue Du
Shuanghong Gao
Ting Huang
Jian Liang
Xiao Xiao
author_facet Xue Du
Shuanghong Gao
Ting Huang
Jian Liang
Xiao Xiao
author_sort Xue Du
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Families are faced with enormous challenges in caring for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over a lifetime. As the main caregiver of children, mothers who have children with autism are in poor health compared to the mothers of typically developing (TD) children. Previous studies have revealed that the mental health of mothers has a direct impact on children. On the other hand, attention bias (AB) can be an important indicator of the mental status. Therefore, the characteristic of AB of mothers who have children with autism can be a window into the treatment of autism. Methods In this study, 28 mothers who have children with autism and 31 mothers of typically developing children completed the modified dot-probe task to explore the attention bias. Results We found that there was a significant difference of AB between mothers who have children with autism and mothers of typically developing children, which indicated that mothers who have children with autism tend to avoid negative emotional words. Conclusions The current study illuminates the attentional characteristics of mothers who have children with autism toward emotional words, which provides a new starting point for the intervention of mothers of children with autism.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1472-6874
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
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series BMC Women's Health
spelling doaj-art-aeabf1f3f63b4a8f8c4a1beef9390e2f2025-02-09T12:52:46ZengBMCBMC Women's Health1472-68742025-02-012511810.1186/s12905-024-03534-w“Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autismXue Du0Shuanghong Gao1Ting Huang2Jian Liang3Xiao Xiao4School of Educational Sciences, Chongqing Normal UniversitySchool of Educational Sciences, Chongqing Normal UniversitySchool of Educational Sciences, Chongqing Normal UniversitySchool of Educational Sciences, Chongqing Normal UniversityCollege of Public Health, Chongqing Medical UniversityAbstract Background Families are faced with enormous challenges in caring for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over a lifetime. As the main caregiver of children, mothers who have children with autism are in poor health compared to the mothers of typically developing (TD) children. Previous studies have revealed that the mental health of mothers has a direct impact on children. On the other hand, attention bias (AB) can be an important indicator of the mental status. Therefore, the characteristic of AB of mothers who have children with autism can be a window into the treatment of autism. Methods In this study, 28 mothers who have children with autism and 31 mothers of typically developing children completed the modified dot-probe task to explore the attention bias. Results We found that there was a significant difference of AB between mothers who have children with autism and mothers of typically developing children, which indicated that mothers who have children with autism tend to avoid negative emotional words. Conclusions The current study illuminates the attentional characteristics of mothers who have children with autism toward emotional words, which provides a new starting point for the intervention of mothers of children with autism.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03534-wAutism spectrum disorderAttention biasNegative emotional wordsAvoid attention
spellingShingle Xue Du
Shuanghong Gao
Ting Huang
Jian Liang
Xiao Xiao
“Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
BMC Women's Health
Autism spectrum disorder
Attention bias
Negative emotional words
Avoid attention
title “Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
title_full “Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
title_fullStr “Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
title_full_unstemmed “Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
title_short “Out of sight out of mind”: attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
title_sort out of sight out of mind attentional characteristics in mothers who have children with autism
topic Autism spectrum disorder
Attention bias
Negative emotional words
Avoid attention
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03534-w
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