A nationwide survey on quality of life and associated factors of adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

The psychosocial outcomes of individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) appear to be diverse and are often poor relative to their intellectual or language level. To identify predictive variables that are potentially ameliorable by therapeutic intervention, this study investigated self-reported psychosocial quality of life and associated factors for adults with HFASD. All participants (n = 154) had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, were over 18 years of age, lived in the community, and had used one or more support services during the survey period. The results demonstrated that psychosocial quality of life was lower than that of the general Japanese adult population. Environmental factors, such as mother's support and early diagnosis, were associated with better quality of life, and aggressive behaviors were associated with poorer quality of life, while expressive language level at preschool years, a conventional outcome predictor, did not predict quality of life. These results emphasize that quality of life measures should be included as outcome indicators in treating individuals with HFASD.

Post-school needs of young people with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…A study of psychosocial outcomes in that country reported the majority of adults with Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism to be living independently (Engströ m, Engströ m, & Emilsson, 2003). In contrast, in Japan over 92% of adults with high-functioning ASD reportedly live with their families (Kamio, Inada, & Koyama, 2012). Research in Australia, the USA and the United Kingdom has found that a minority of adults with high-functioning ASD or Asperger's syndrome live independently (Burrows, Ford, & Bottroff, 2001;Howlin, 2003;Lawrence, Alleckson, & Bjorklund, 2010).…”

Child and Adult Factors Related to Quality of Life in Adults with Autism

“…Clark et al 2015; Egilson et al 2016; Hong et al 2016; Ikeda et al 2014) this is not always the case (Jonsson et al 2016). Moreover, findings on the associations between QoL and factors such as autism severity, age, gender, cognitive, social and language skills, adaptive behaviours, behavioural disturbance, physical health, and co-morbid psychiatric conditions are variable, and sometimes contradictory (Biggs and Carter 2016; Chiang and Wineman 2014; Hong et al 2016; Ikeda et al 2014; Kamio et al 2013; Van Heijst and Geurts 2015). Suggestions that support networks may have a stronger impact on QoL in autism than individual characteristics (Renty and Roeyers 2006) have also led to exploration of a wide range of potential environmental influences.…”

Parental Social Responsiveness and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring

“…Established thresholds reliably distinguish ASD children from both non-affected children and those with other conditions such as mental retardation 9, 10 . Use of the SRS in both general population and affected samples has demonstrated that SRS scores are continuously distributed and are not related to intelligence quotient or age 1, 6, 9, 11 .…”