The combined impact of social support and perceived stress on quality of life in adults with autism spectrum disorder and without intellectual disability.
Lauren Bishop-Fitzpatrick, Carla A Mazefsky, Shaun M Eack
PMID 28666391WHAT IT FOUND
Social support did not weaken the link between stress and lower quality of life in adults with autism without intellectual disability.
Higher stress and lower support each tracked with lower quality of life, so both may need separate attention.
Key findings
01Adults with ASD reported significantly lower social support and lower quality of life than typical community volunteers.
02In adults with ASD, higher perceived stress was associated with lower quality of life, and higher social support was associated with higher quality of life, after controlling for age, sex, IQ, and treatment exposure.
03Social support did not significantly moderate the association between perceived stress and quality of life in either adults with ASD or typical community volunteers.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that stress or low social support caused lower quality of life. Poor quality of life may also lead to stress and social withdrawal. The direction of association is unclear. The ASD sample had IQ above 80 and came from adults able to take part in a group-based treatment trial, so it does not represent adults with ASD who have greater cognitive or communication difficulties. Because participants were also in a trial of two psychosocial treatments, treatment exposure may have affected stress, social support, or quality of life even though the analyses controlled for it. Co-occurring conditions such as anxiety were not fully assessed and could have influenced the findings. The typical volunteer group was small and had less variation in stress and social support, which may have made it harder to detect a buffering effect.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH and other government sources, but the supplied text does not give a detailed funding statement. The named authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing social support will reduce the harm of stress in autistic adults. The study did not find a significant buffering effect, and because it was cross-sectional it cannot show that stress or social support caused changes in quality of life.