Nguyen William, Ownsworth Tamara, Nicol Chelsea, Zimmerman David
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University and Menzies Health Institute of Queensland, Mount Gravatt, QLD, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2020 May 12;11:913. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00913. eCollection 2020.
Few studies have examined the self-perceptions of autistic adults. This study aimed firstly to investigate domain-specific self-concepts and global self-esteem in autistic adults. The second aim was to examine associations between autism self-appraisals, perceived social support and global self-concept and self-esteem. The third was to determine which domains of self-concept were most closely associated with self-esteem. Participants included 71 autistic adults aged 18-70 years and 65 age, sex and education matched typically developing individuals. Participants completed an online survey of autism characteristics, global self-esteem and domain-specific self-concepts (i.e. likeability, task accomplishment, power, giftedness, invulnerability, and morality), self-appraisals about autism, and perceived social support. Autistic participants reported significantly lower power and global self-esteem than typically developing individuals after controlling for autism characteristics. More positive self-appraisals about autism (i.e. greater perceived benefits and lower helplessness) were significantly related to better global self-concept and self-esteem. Global self-esteem was significantly and positively associated with perceptions of giftedness, emotional resilience and power. These findings suggest that autistic adults may perceive themselves as having a low sense of power in their relationships and have negative global perceptions of their self-worth. However, those able to find positive meaning or benefits associated with autism are likely to have more positive global self-perceptions. This study provides new insights into how autistic adults perceive themselves which may guide the focus of psychosocial interventions that seek to recognize and promote unique talents and emotional resilience.
很少有研究考察过自闭症成年患者的自我认知。本研究的首要目的是调查自闭症成年患者在特定领域的自我概念和总体自尊。第二个目的是检验自闭症自我评估、感知到的社会支持与总体自我概念和自尊之间的关联。第三个目的是确定自我概念的哪些领域与自尊联系最为紧密。研究参与者包括71名年龄在18至70岁之间的自闭症成年患者，以及65名在年龄、性别和教育程度上与之匹配的发育正常的个体。参与者完成了一项关于自闭症特征、总体自尊和特定领域自我概念（即讨人喜欢程度、任务完成情况、权力、天赋、无懈可击和道德）、对自闭症的自我评估以及感知到的社会支持的在线调查。在控制了自闭症特征后，自闭症患者报告的权力感和总体自尊显著低于发育正常的个体。对自闭症更积极的自我评估（即更高的感知益处和更低的无助感）与更好的总体自我概念和自尊显著相关。总体自尊与天赋、情绪恢复力和权力感显著正相关。这些发现表明，自闭症成年患者可能认为自己在人际关系中的权力感较低，并且对自身价值有负面的总体认知。然而，那些能够找到与自闭症相关的积极意义或益处的人可能会有更积极的总体自我认知。本研究为自闭症成年患者如何看待自己提供了新的见解，这可能会指导心理社会干预的重点，即寻求认识和促进独特才能及情绪恢复力。
