The relationships between parenting stress and self-perceived parenting behaviors in 138 parents of children with autistic spectrum conditions were studied over 9-10 months. Apart from perceived communication being attenuated, there were no major areas of self-perceived parenting weakness. Parenting stress closely interacted with self-perceived involvement, communication, and limit setting over time. In parents of young children (below 4), high initial levels of parenting stress resulted in less subsequent self-perceived involvement, and poorer communication, with the child. Good self-perceived initial skills for limit setting resulted in lower levels of parenting stress. These relationships help to explain the impact of parenting stress on child behavior problems, and may be consistent with development of parental adaptive behavioral strategies to deal with extreme stress levels. (Contains 2 tables.)