Work and well-being: Vocational activity trajectories in young adults with autism spectrum disorder.

The analysis used 151 participants from an original sample of 253, and people lost to attrition or missing data were more likely to be African American or to have caregivers with less than a college degree. The sample was followed from childhood assessments in the early 1990s, so service availability and diagnosis patterns may differ from today. There were only 30 female participants, so the study could not examine gender differences in detail. Self-report happiness was not available for anyone in the No Activities group and was available for only a small number of people in the Volunteer and Supported groups. The study included 31 participants who had never been diagnosed with autism, and these participants were less likely to be in the No Activities group than participants with autism. Questionnaire packets were completed at varying frequencies, and the number of vocational data points per participant ranged from 1 to 9, with an average of 3.6. The first time point in this analysis covered ages 18 to 27, so it may not capture changes after age 28. Because this was an observational cohort, it cannot show that vocational activity caused differences in happiness, social contact, or living circumstances.

No conflict-of-interest statement is included in the supplied text. The metadata lists research support from NIH and non-U.S. government sources.

Do not conclude that competitive employment causes higher well-being. The study compared people who were already in different vocational groups and did not test a vocational intervention.