Self-blame, self-forgiveness and wellbeing among parents of autistic children

Parents of autistic children tend to blame themselves for child’s disability. This dysfunctional explanation often leads to poorer resilience and health outcomes for parents. Recent research suggests that an effective way to mitigate the negative consequences of self-blaming is through self-forgiveness, the process whereby a person leaves self-resentment and self-criticism while admitting one’s own possible mistakes and omissions. Self-forgiveness has been proved to promote a better adjustment in people who blame themselves for life stressors like a medical illness. Given that no study has investigated the effects of self-forgiveness among parents of autistic children yet, the present study intended to overcome this limitation by examining whether self-forgiveness moderates the negative association between parents’ self-blame for their child disability and their well-being. Forty-one parents of autistic children receiving treatment at a day care center reported their degree of self-blame and self-forgiveness for their children’s autism as well as their level of personal well-being and parental distress across a number of dimensions. Results indicate that self-blame is significantly related to personal well-being and parental distress only for parents reporting lower levels of self-forgiveness. The present findings suggest that interventions promoting self-forgiveness may help parents with reducing negative outcomes that are associated with self-blame.