University College London, UK.
University of Cambridge, UK.
Autism. 2021 Jul;25(5):1469-1480. doi: 10.1177/1362361321992668.
Alcohol use and misuse are associated with a variety of negative physical, psychological and social consequences. The limited existing research on substance use including alcohol use in autistic adults has yielded mixed findings, with some studies concluding that autism reduces the likelihood of substance use and others suggesting that autism may increase an individual's risk for substance misuse. This study investigated demographic and psychological predictors of alcohol use and misuse in a sample of 237 autistic adults. An online survey was used to obtain data on demographic information, autistic traits, depression, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, mental well-being, social camouflaging and alcohol use. The sample was divided into three groups (non-drinkers, non-hazardous drinkers and hazardous drinkers) in order to investigate associations between alcohol use and demographic factors, autistic traits, mental health variables and social camouflaging. Our results demonstrated a U-shaped pattern among autistic adults, with non-drinkers and hazardous drinkers scoring higher than non-hazardous drinkers on levels of autistic traits, depression, generalised anxiety and social anxiety. Autistic non-drinkers were less likely to be male and had more autistic traits. Gender and level of autistic traits may be the most significant factors in predicting alcohol use in the autistic community.
饮酒和滥用酒精与各种负面的身体、心理和社会后果有关。现有的关于包括自闭症成年人的物质使用的有限研究得出了混合的结果，一些研究得出结论，自闭症降低了物质使用的可能性，而另一些研究则表明自闭症可能增加个体滥用物质的风险。本研究调查了 237 名自闭症成年人样本中饮酒和滥用酒精的人口统计学和心理预测因素。在线调查用于获取人口统计学信息、自闭症特征、抑郁、广泛性焦虑、社交焦虑、心理健康、社交掩饰和饮酒方面的数据。该样本分为三组（不饮酒者、非危险饮酒者和危险饮酒者），以研究饮酒与人口统计学因素、自闭症特征、心理健康变量和社交掩饰之间的关系。我们的结果表明，自闭症成年人呈 U 型模式，不饮酒者和危险饮酒者在自闭症特征、抑郁、广泛性焦虑和社交焦虑方面的得分均高于非危险饮酒者。自闭症不饮酒者更可能是女性，且具有更多的自闭症特征。性别和自闭症特征水平可能是预测自闭症人群饮酒行为的最重要因素。
