Pfeiffer Beth, Song Wei, Davidson Amber, Salzer Mark, Feeley Cecilia, Shea Lindsey
Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Autism Adulthood. 2024 Jun 17;6(2):241-246. doi: 10.1089/aut.2022.0069. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Autistic adults are significantly unemployed or underemployed even compared with other disability groups. Employment is a social determinant that, when satisfied, closely influences health-related quality of life. For autistic adults, environmental barriers to transportation can impact the ability to get to employment resulting in limited employment opportunities. This study provides a closer examination of the association between transportation use and employment status.
To examine the use of different types of transportation and barriers to public transit by employed and unemployed autistic adults.
The data were from a large statewide study conducted between May 2017 and June 2018 using the Pennsylvania Autism Needs Assessment (PANA), in which information about employment and transportation use was obtained from autistic adults who were residents of Pennsylvania. The study sample included 1120 autistic adults (M = 28.03 years, standard deviation = 9.84; 70% men; 82% non-Hispanic White).
Participants who were employed were more likely to drive themselves than those who were unemployed (45% vs. 21%, < 0.001), while they were less likely to take rides from others (62% vs. 75%, < 0.001) or use service transportation (11% vs. 18%, = 0.001). For barriers to public transit, the results identified that employed participants reported fewer barriers to public transportation than unemployed participants with a small effect size (1.98 vs. 2.54, = 0.22).
Employed autistic adults exercise more transportation independence. Unemployed autistic adults report more barriers to participation and lower ability to independently use public transportation. Future transportation and employment studies are necessary.
与其他残疾群体相比，自闭症成年患者的失业率或就业不足率显著更高。就业是一种社会决定因素，一旦得到满足，会对与健康相关的生活质量产生密切影响。对于自闭症成年患者而言，交通方面的环境障碍可能会影响其就业能力，从而导致就业机会有限。本研究更深入地探讨了交通使用与就业状况之间的关联。
研究就业和未就业的自闭症成年患者对不同类型交通方式的使用情况以及公共交通的障碍。
数据来自2017年5月至2018年6月在宾夕法尼亚州进行的一项大规模全州性研究，该研究使用了宾夕法尼亚州自闭症需求评估（PANA），其中就业和交通使用信息来自宾夕法尼亚州居民中的自闭症成年患者。研究样本包括1120名自闭症成年患者（平均年龄M = 28.03岁，标准差 = 9.84；70%为男性；82%为非西班牙裔白人）。
就业的参与者比未就业的参与者更有可能自己开车（45%对21%，P < 0.001），而他们乘坐他人车辆的可能性较小（62%对75%，P < 0.001）或使用服务性交通的可能性较小（11%对18%，P = 0.001）。对于公共交通障碍，结果表明就业的参与者报告的公共交通障碍比未就业的参与者少，效应量较小（1.98对2.54，P = 0.22）。
就业的自闭症成年患者在交通方面更具独立性。未就业的自闭症成年患者报告的参与障碍更多，独立使用公共交通的能力更低。未来有必要开展交通与就业研究。
