OBJECTIVES: Family quality of life (FQoL) outcomes collected during the first year of COVID-19 has been combined with 2018 data to estimate the outbreak impact on parental outcomes on a sample of 691 families of children with syndromic autism and intellectual disabilities.

METHODS: A total of 120 identical families completed the Beach Center family quality of life Scale - a validated FQoL instrument between 2018 and during the first year of the pandemic as well as reported COVID-19 parental-child outcomes. Multivariate regression models and matching estimators were used to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on FQoL outcomes.

RESULTS: Despite challenges imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, our study found that FQoL outcomes reported by participating caregivers during the first year of COVID-19 appears to be similar to ratings from the pre-pandemic study. Parents of children in our sample generally displayed a stable functioning trajectory. The COVID-19 pandemic was found to be positively associated with parent-child bonding, relational satisfaction, and increased emotional connection between parents and their children.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence of families’ resilience which might explain positive parent-child interactions during COVID-19. Exploring mechanisms which explain how families with autistic and intellectual disability children confront, manage disruptive experiences, and buffer COVID-19 induced stress is a fruitful direction for future research.