Research has shown that support for families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States has led to reduce parental stress. To better understand the situation in China, it is crucial to evaluate the current status of family support and provide clear evidence of the impact of family support on positive family outcomes. This study aims to provide initial evidence to examine these interrelations among family support, parental stress, and family quality of life in mainland China. A total of 226 parents of children with ASD completed two questionnaires (Beach Center Family Quality of Life (FQOL) Scale and the Family Support Scale for Chinese Children with ASD) and a demographic family information form. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the interrelation among parental stress, family support, and FQOL. Parents perceived a moderate to low level of family support and FQOL and high level of parental stress. Family support had a direct positive effect on FQOL (β = .54) and an indirect effect on FQOL through parental stress (β = .06). Resources should be devoted to establishing a family support system that promotes FQOL and buffers parental stress for families of children with ASD.

The present study examined the impact of a leadership development program, Leading for Change (LfC) that focused on building the capacity of early educators to lead change as frontline leaders and change agents. Bringing together a relational-entrepreneurial leadership theory lens, the LfC was designed to foster early educators’ leadership mindset, knowledge, and skills that could potentially bring a long-lasting impact on many aspects of the early care and education (ECE) field. With a sample of 31 racially and linguistically diverse early educators, the present study compared participants’ entrepreneurial mindset, leadership competencies, and capacity to act as change agents and leaders before and after the LfC program. Results showed that participants’ perceptions of themselves as leaders were increased after completing the LfC. They also demonstrated more confidence in their own ability to drive positive change where they work and more broadly in the ECE field. Findings from this study suggest that the relational-entrepreneurial leadership approach taps into early educators’ insights, passions, and knowledge and equips them to participate in leadership for quality improvement and positive change.

This study provides new insights regarding the associations and risk factors of nine specific adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and young children (0–5 years of age) with disabilities. Utilizing the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset (N = 14,494), we conducted descriptive analysis and regressions with complex survey weighting procedure. The results suggested that one in three children (35.0%) with disabilities would have at least one ACE. The prevalence rates of experiencing the nine specific ACEs were much higher for children with disabilities. Importantly, the five most prevalent ACEs for children with disabilities were hard to cover basic food and housing (40.9%), parental divorce (24.3%), alcohol/drug problems (11.1%), parent or guardian incarceration (10.6%), and adult abuse (6.8%), which were all related to family challenges. We identified several key child/family risk factors (e.g., child age, marital status, adult health) that helped inform cross-system screening, referral, and collaboration opportunities. A discussion about policy implication and further research directions is provided.