Mothers of teens with autism report higher levels of stress, but optimism can be a buffer

(University of California - Riverside) Jan Blacher, a distinguished professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside, found mothers of teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID) reported higher levels of stress and other negative psychological symptoms -- think depression or anxiety -- than mothers of teenagers with typical development (TD). Those levels climbed even higher when teenagers with ASD or ID also showed signs ...