Increased perceived stress is negatively associated with activities of daily living and subjective quality of life in younger, middle, and older autistic adults.
Goldie A McQuaid, Colin H Weiss, Alex Job Said and 3 others
PMID 35790082WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults who felt more stress about everyday life were less independent in daily living and reported lower quality of life across physical, psychological, social, environmental, and autism-related domains.
Key findings
01Autistic adults reported higher perceived stress than general population adults, and the difference remained when the sample was divided into age groups.
02Autistic adults designated female at birth reported higher perceived stress than autistic adults designated male at birth.
03After accounting for age, sex designated at birth, and household income, higher perceived stress was linked to less independence in daily living and lower quality of life across physical health, psychological health, environment, social relationships, and autism-related domains.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
The study reported associations, not whether reducing stress improves daily living or quality of life. Participants were independent adults and reported no intellectual disability, so the findings may not apply to autistic adults with co-occurring intellectual disability. 34% of participants scored the maximum on the daily living independence measure, so the measure may not capture more dependent adults. The sample was predominantly White and non-Latinx, so it may not represent autistic adults from other racial or ethnic groups. The general population comparison sample was older, and the paper notes age was inversely associated with perceived stress in that sample. The stress measure was a short self-report survey, not a measure of specific everyday stressors.
Declared interests
Autism Speaks and The George Washington University are named as funders. The supplied text does not list author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing perceived stress will improve daily living or quality of life. This study reported associations and did not test an intervention. It also did not include autistic adults with intellectual disability, and 34% of participants scored the maximum on the daily living independence measure, so the finding may not transfer to people with greater disability.