Journal of Intellectual Disability Research     / pp ‒ /   ©  Blackwell Publishing Ltd 231 Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKJIDRJournal of Intellectual Disability Research -Blackwell Science Ltd, MiscellaneousAutism and parental stressR. P. Hastings Correspondence: Richard Hastings PhD, School of Psychology, University of Wales Bangor, Bangor, Gwynedd LL AS, UK (e-mail: r.hastings@bangor.ac.uk). Brief report Child behaviour problems and partner mental health as correlates of stress in mothers and fathers of children with autism R. P. Hastings School of Psychology, University of Wales Bangor, Bangor, UK Abstract Background Previous research has suggested that the mothers and fathers of children with disabilities experience stress differently. Although there has been a great deal of research exploring how children affect parents, there have been many fewer studies of the interrelationships between mothers’ and fathers’ psy- chological well-being. Methods Eighteen married couples who were the parents of children with autism reported on their stress and their general mental health (i.e. anxiety and depression). Teachers rated the behaviour prob- lems of the children with autism. Results Mothers and fathers did not differ in their levels of stress and depression, but mothers reported more anxiety than fathers. Partial correlation analyses revealed that child behaviour problems and fathers’ mental health were associated with mothers’ stress. However, neither child behaviour problems or moth- ers’ mental health was associated with fathers’ stress. Conclusions Although requiring replication, the results suggest that stress in mothers of children with disabilities may be affected by the psychological health of other family members, whereas fathers’ stress is affected more by other factors. Methodolog- ical and conceptual issues, and the practical implica- tions of these results are discussed. Keywords fathers, behaviour problems, parents, mothers, mental health, stress, autism Introduction Systems approaches to research on families of chil- dren with disabilities (e.g. Seligman & Darling ) encourage the study of family members other than mothers (e.g. Hornby ; Hastings ; Hannah & Midlarsky ) and the interrelationships between family members. Thus, there have been a number of reports in the literature of similarities and differences between mothers and fathers of children with disabilities. In general, existing research shows that: () fathers typically report less stress than moth- ers, although several studies have found no differ- ences between parents (Goldberg et al. ; Bristol et al. ; Beckman ; Sloper et al. ; Rousey et al. ; Trute ; Heller et al. ); () mater- nal and paternal stress is associated with or predicted by different combinations of variables (i.e. different things contribute to stress in mothers and fathers) (Sloper et al. ; Krauss ; Trute ; Essex