Addressing the Lack of Research About Fathers Raising Autistic Children

Abstract

This chapter focusses on the lack of research about fathers raising autistic children. It begins by presenting the results in the Braunstein, Peniston, Perelman, and Cassano (2013) study, which showed that there is not much research about fathers raising autistic children compared to mothers raising autistic children. Some of the key issues in research about these fathers, such as paternal experiences of raising an autistic child, are then presented. Several areas where more research can be conducted in the future are then outlined. These suggestions are based on the limitations in the examined studies and consequently what types of research could be conducted to address these limitations. Addressing such gaps can only occur if there are strategies that can be used to recruit fathers into autism research. To this end, some of the main recommendations in Davison et al.'s study about how to recruit fathers into studies are presented.

The original contribution that this chapter makes to the field of autism spectrum research is to explain areas where there is a lack of research about fathers raising autistic children as well as potential strategies that can be used to stimulate their interest in participating in such research.

Citation

Bennett, M. and Goodall, E. (2022), "Addressing the Lack of Research About Fathers Raising Autistic Children", Addressing Underserved Populations in Autism Spectrum Research, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-463-520221006