Demographic and psychological predictors of alcohol use and misuse in autistic adults.
Maya Bowri, Laura Hull, Carrie Allison and 4 others
PMID 34232103WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults in this sample were more likely to abstain from alcohol than the general population, but hazardous drinking rates were similar.
Men and those with higher autistic traits were less likely to be non-drinkers. Depression and anxiety linked to both abstinence and misuse.
Key findings
01Thirty percent of participants reported abstaining from alcohol, while 15.2% were classified as hazardous drinkers.
02In the adjusted model, being male was associated with reduced odds of being a non-drinker, and higher autistic traits were associated with increased odds of being a non-drinker.
03Higher levels of depression, generalised anxiety, and social anxiety were associated with being both a non-drinker and a hazardous drinker compared to non-hazardous drinkers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if alcohol misuse causes mental health problems or if people with mental health problems misuse alcohol. The sample was not representative of the broader autism spectrum, as it largely excluded individuals with lower intellectual ability and those who could not complete an online survey. Autism diagnoses were self-reported and not independently verified. The proportion of hazardous drinkers was relatively low (15.2%), which may have reduced the statistical power to identify unique predictors for this group in the adjusted model. Recruitment via social media and specific charities may have introduced selection bias.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. One author received support from various mental health and autism research foundations and awards, but no commercial funding for this specific study is listed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that higher autistic traits protect against alcohol misuse. While higher traits were associated with increased odds of abstinence in this sample, they were also associated with increased odds of hazardous drinking in unadjusted models, and the study design cannot rule out that misuse occurs in this group.