The Importance of Social Support for Young Adults with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning to Adulthood

Background: The United States Department of Health and Human Services (2011) has stressed the importance of taking a lifespan perspective and investigating outcomes in adulthood for those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  Although transitioning to adulthood is considered a time of risk for individuals with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD), as many of these young adults lose access to support programs (Taylor & Seltzer, 2010), little is known about how they perceive their own transition to adulthood.  Identifying personal and contextual factors that young adults with HF-ASD believe support and challenge their transition to adulthood is an important step toward designing effective support programs for them.    

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate similarities and differences in the personal (e.g., individual characteristics such as resourcefulness) and contextual factors (e.g., supportive relationships) that young adults with HF-ASD pinpointed as supporting and challenging their transition to adulthood, compared to their same-age typically developing (TD) peers.  An additional aim was to identify personal and contextual factors associated with better developmental outcomes for those with HF-ASD.    

Methods: Both HF-ASD and TD groups included 30 participants, aged 18 to 27-years-old (21 men and 9 women).  Participants responded to (a) an interview that asked them to describe personal and contextual factors supporting and challenging their transition to adulthood and (b) an interview assessing developmental outcome, adapted from Howlin et al. (2004)’s composite measure of overall social functioning.  Participants with HF-ASD were dichotomized into those with very good/good versus fair developmental outcomes.  Data were analyzed with inductive content analysis.   

Results: Compared to the TD group, the HF-ASD group was more likely to describe the importance of non-familial adults and formal support programs in facilitating their transition to adulthood.  Only the HF-ASD group described how memories of bullying and teasing continued to haunt them, challenging their transition.  Young adults with HF-ASD who had better developmental outcomes talked more about the positive influence of social support in their daily lives and had a greater number of caring relationships.   

Conclusions: Although many young adults with HF-ASD lose access to support services (Taylor & Seltzer, 2010), results highlight the crucial importance of continued support for them.  Support programs should be targeted specifically toward young adults with HF-ASD, as they perceived unique factors supporting and challenging their transition to adulthood.  Developmental outcomes for the HF-ASD group may be facilitated by social support and exposure to a greater number of supportive relationships.  Implications for support programs for young adults with HF-ASD will be described.   

Howlin, P., Goode, S., Hutton, J., & Rutter, M. (2004).  Adult outcome for children with autism.  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(2), 212-229.    

Taylor, J. L., & Seltzer, M. M. (2010). Changes in the autism behavioral phenotype during the transition to adulthood. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(12), 1431-1446.  doi:10.1007/s10803-0101005-z                            

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. (2011). 2011 strategic plan for autism spectrum disorder research (NIH Publication No. 10-7573). Retrieved from http://iacc.hhs.gov/strategic-plan/2011/index.shtml