Table 6.

Categories and subcategories of guilt and shame understanding, and shame experiences in relation to parenting in both group of parents

Parents of Children with ASD (n = 143)			Parents of Neurotypical Children (n = 135)
	CATEGORY	SUBCATEGORY	CATEGORY	SUBCATEGORY
Understanding of Guilt	Subjective Guilt	Own Failure	Subjective Guilt	Own Failure
		Self-blame		Transgression
		Remorse	Objective Guilt	Responsibility
	Objective Guilt	Did/Have done something bad		Did/Have done something bad
		Responsibility		Hurting Another Person
	Other		Other
Understanding of Shame	External Shame	Condemned by Society	External Shame	Ashamed of Actions and Behavior
		Child’s Inappropriate Behavior		Public Condemnation
		Ashamed of Behavior		Embarrassing Situation
		Embarrassing Situation		Child Behaving Inappropriately in Public
		Other People’s Shame
	Internal Shame	Unpleasant Feelings	Internal Shame	Unpleasant Feelings
		Own Failure		Own Failure
		Imperfection and the Failure to Fulfill Expectations		Failure to Fulfil Society’s Expectations
		Desire to Escape		Humiliation
		Failure to Handle the Situation		Wanting to Disappear
				Failure to Handle the Situation
				Own Imperfection
	Did not feel ashamed		Other
	Other
Shameful Experiences in Parenting	Exogenous Factors	Child Behaving Inappropriately in Public	Exogenous factors	Child Behaving Inappropriately in Public
		Public Condemnation/Misunderstanding
		Social Gatherings
	Don’t Feel Ashamed	Resignation	Did not Feel Ashamed
		Don’t Feel Ashamed
	Endogenous Factors	Shame as their Own Failure	Endogenous factors	Own Failure
		Difficulty Communicating with the Child
		ASD Not Being Accepted by Close Family