Relating ASD Symptoms to Well-Being: Moving Across Different Construct Levels

Background:

Little is known about the specific factors that contribute to well-being of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A plausible hypothesis is that ASD symptomatology has a direct negative effect on well-being. Past studies investigating the interacting nature of ASD symptoms and well-being have often included higher order representations of ASD symptomatology in their analyses. In the current study, the emerging tools of network analysis allow to explore these functional interdependencies in a multivariate framework. We illustrate how studying both higher-order (total score) and lower-order (subscale) representations of ASD symptomatology can provide important insights into the interrelations of factors relevant to well-being.

Objectives:

We aim to study the interplay of ASD symptoms and domains of subjective well-being and daily functioning on three construct levels by applying network analysis techniques in an exploratory fashion. 

Methods:

We estimated network structures for ASD symptomatology (item, subscale, total score), relating them to daily functioning and subjective well-being in 323 individuals with ASD (aged 17 to 70 years). For these networks, we calculated centrality indices to assess the importance of specific factors in the network structure.

Results:

First, results of our total score network reveal that ASD symptom severity has a direct influence on psychological well-being, which is, in turn, the most important factor for general life satisfaction of individuals with ASD. Second, the relation between depressed mood and ASD symptoms seems to be not a direct influence but funneled by many other domains of daily functioning. Third, the resulting networks do not feature a direct mutual influence between ASD symptom severity and comorbid problems.

Conclusions:

When focusing on the highest representation level of ASD symptomatology, we found a negative connection between ASD symptom severity and domains of well-being. However, focusing on lower representation levels of ASD symptomatology revealed that this connection was mainly funneled by ASD symptoms related to insistence on sameness and experiencing reduced contact and that those symptom scales, in turn, impact different domains of well-being. Zooming in across construct levels into subscales of ASD symptoms can provide us with important insights on how specific domains of ASD relate to specific domains of daily functioning and well-being.