Objective To explore the characteristics and correlation between general self-efficacy and parenting stress of mothers with autism spectrum disorder(ASD)children.Methods A total of 82 mothers with ASD children and 78 mothers with healthy children were investigated using the self-made general demographic data questionnaire,the parenting stress scale and the general self-efficacy scale,respectively.Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to explore the correlation between maternal self-efficacy and parenting stress of mothers with ASD children.Results The total score of parenting stress and the scores of paren-ting distress,parent-child interaction disorder and difficult child of mothers with ASD children were higher than those of mothers with healthy children.The general self-efficacy score was significantly lower than that of mothers of normal children(P<0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that the general self-efficacy of mothers with ASD children was negatively correlated with the scores of parenting stress and parenting distress,parent-child interaction disorder,and difficult child(P<0.05).Conclusion ASD children mother's self-efficacy is lower,and parenting stress is higher.And ASD children mother's general self-efficacy and negatively correlated with parenting stress.