Taylor Julie Lounds, Sullivan Virginia, Bishop Somer L, Zheng Shuting, Adams Ryan E
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, PMB 40 - 230 Appleton Pl, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.
University of California, San Francisco, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 May 4. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06378-3.
Social experiences are consistently associated with psychological health among autistic individuals. However, most extant studies on this topic exclude individuals with autism who have lower IQ or are otherwise unable to self-report. The current study addresses this gap by examining associations of negative peer experiences and social participation with psychological health among autistic youth with low IQ.
An online survey was collected from 268 parents of autistic adolescents and adults ages 15-25. Negative peer experiences included measures of peer victimization and being ignored. Social participation was assessed by the amount of participation and parents' perceptions of whether their youth felt the amount of participation was meeting their needs. Psychological health was assessed by parents' report of their youth's psychological quality of life, as well as whether they felt their son/daughter was currently depressed.
Results suggested low rates of social participation in this sample, with relatively high rates of being ignored. Regression analysis found that lower rates of peer victimization and more activities in which parents perceived that the amount of time was meeting their youth's needs was associated with higher psychological quality of life and lower likelihood that parents felt their son/daughter was depressed.
Though youth with autism and low IQ are often excluded from interventions aimed at improving social experiences, these findings suggest that promoting positive social experiences and ameliorating negative ones might be an avenue to improving psychological health in this group.
社交经历一直与自闭症个体的心理健康相关。然而，关于这一主题的大多数现有研究都排除了智商较低或无法进行自我报告的自闭症患者。本研究通过考察负面同伴经历和社会参与与低智商自闭症青少年心理健康之间的关联，填补了这一空白。
对268名15至25岁自闭症青少年和成年人的家长进行了在线调查。负面同伴经历包括同伴受害和被忽视的测量。社会参与通过参与程度以及家长对其子女是否觉得参与程度满足其需求的看法来评估。心理健康通过家长对其子女心理生活质量的报告以及他们是否觉得自己的儿子/女儿目前抑郁来评估。
结果表明，该样本中的社会参与率较低，被忽视的比例相对较高。回归分析发现，较低的同伴受害率以及家长认为时间量满足其子女需求的更多活动，与较高的心理生活质量以及家长认为自己的儿子/女儿抑郁的可能性较低相关。
尽管智商较低的自闭症青少年通常被排除在旨在改善社交经历的干预措施之外，但这些发现表明，促进积极的社交经历和改善消极的社交经历可能是改善该群体心理健康的一条途径。
