“I’m Proud to be a Little Bit Different”: The Effects of Autistic Individuals’ Perceptions of Autism and Autism Social Identity on Their Collective Self-esteem

Cooper, Rosalind; Cooper, Kate; Russell, Ailsa; Smith, Laura G. E.

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04575-4

Cited by 64 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This may be due to the fact that adolescence is the stage at which individuals are just starting to explore their identity and may face more pressure to fit into their peer groups (Drummond, 2013), while the transition to adulthood is a time when autistic individuals may be more likely to develop self-acceptance and self-advocacy skills (Lee et al, 2021). Studies outside of this review have also found that stronger affiliation with autistic identity is linked to higher collective self-esteem and improved mental health among autistic adults (Cooper et al, 2017;Cooper et al, 2021). Meanwhile, stronger alignment with non-autistic culture has been linked to more positive selfperceptions among autistic adolescents (Cresswell & Cage, 2019), although this study's findings need to be interpreted with caution given the lack of overall significant effects and small sample size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A systematic review on autistic people's experiences of stigma and coping strategies

Han¹,

Scior²,

Avramides³

et al. 2021

Autism Research

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Autism can be understood as a concealable stigmatised identity. This is the first systematic review to synthesise the literature on autistic people's experiences of stigma and coping strategies. 2877 studies were screened and 27 were included in this review. The reviewed literature demonstrates that autistic individuals are acutely aware of being stereotyped, judged, and discriminated by others. Autistic people also show signs of internalising stigma, rendering them more vulnerable to low self-worth and poorer mental health. To manage the impact of stigma, the included studies suggest that autistic individuals may use these strategies: concealment and camouflaging, selective disclosure and self-advocacy, as well as positive reframing and reconstructing identity. However, the evidence is limited and mixed in terms of how helpful and effective these strategies are. Future studies should include autistic populations with a wider range of intellectual abilities and explore interventions that can support autistic people in managing stigma to supplement interventions that seek to reduce stigma towards autistic people. The power of language in perpetuating and challenging stigma also has important implications for research and practice, underscoring the need for researchers and practitioners to reflect carefully on the messages they are communicating about autism. Lay summaryThis review has found that autistic people often experience stigma, which refers to negative attitudes and treatment from others. Because of that, some autistic people also have negative beliefs about themselves, which may affect their self-worth and mental health.While research suggests that autistic people use a range of strategies to manage stigma, the evidence is limited and mixed in terms of how helpful these strategies are.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

A systematic review on autistic people's experiences of stigma and coping strategies

Han¹,

Scior²,

Avramides³

et al. 2021

Autism Research

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Examining the extent to which participants felt they identified as autistic might be something for future research to consider: we did not include this in our quantitative study, but the extent to which individuals feel strongly connected to an autistic identity could vary, and the strength of this identity could have relationships to well-being. 23 Asking participants to quantify the strength of their identification and validation could also allow for studies to examine how these factors change over time: this study used a cross-sectional design but longitudinal work that follows women through their diagnostic journeys would also allow for future examination of how diagnosis impact identity and well-being over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autistic women’s diagnostic experiences: Interactions with identity and impacts on well-being

Harmens

Sedgewick

Hobson

2022

Womens Health (Lond Engl)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: There has been suggestion that current diagnostic instruments are not sufficient for detecting and diagnosing autism in women, and research suggests that a lack of diagnosis could negatively impact autistic women’s well-being and identity. This study aimed to explore the well-being and identity of autistic women at three points of their diagnostic journey: self-identifying or awaiting assessment, currently undergoing assessment or recently diagnosed, and more than a year post-diagnosis. Methods: Mixed-methods were used to explore this with 96 women who identified as autistic and within one of these three groups. Participants completed an online questionnaire, and a sub-sample of 24 of these women participated in a semi-structured interview. Results: Well-being was found to differ significantly across groups in three domains: satisfaction with health, psychological health, and environmental health. Validation was found to be a central issue for all autistic women, which impacted their diagnosis, identity, and well-being. The subthemes of don’t forget I’m autistic; what now?; having to be the professional; and no one saw me were also identified. Conclusion: These results suggest that autistic women’s well-being and identity differ in relation to their position on the diagnostic journey in a non-linear manner. We suggest that training on the presentation of autism in women for primary and secondary healthcare professionals, along with improved diagnostic and support pathways for autistic adult women could go some way to support well-being.

show abstract

“…Collective self-esteem is the degree to which individuals perceive that they generally positively evaluate their social group (Cooper et al, 2021), better reflecting the psychological state of the users as community members. When the out-group threatens the realistic interests or cultural security of the in-group, it will influence its CS.…”

Section: The Mediating Role Of Csmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does Social Currency Influence Prosocial Behavior? The Role of Collective Self-Esteem and Communication Network Heterogeneity

Gong

Liu

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The social currency, the existing potential resource in the social networks and communities of an individual, has become more significant in the era of information technology. Meanwhile, the rapid development of Internet service, especially its application on mobile devices, brings many new contents of prosocial behaviors (PBs), which benefits both individuals and communities. Specifically, social currency plays a positive role in promoting PB, forming positive personalities, promoting positive social adaptation, and contributing to human survival and social development. However, the theoretical research in this field still lags far behind the development of practice, and the research on the impact of social currency on PB remains exceedingly scarce. Grounded in the social exchange theory (SET), the present study collects a total of 497 WeChat user questionnaires, constructs a model for the influence mechanism of social currency on PB, and tests the hypothesis through hierarchical regression. According to the results obtained, it was found that the social currency is positively associated with PB, and users with a more social currency are more likely to act prosocially on their own. The PB of an individual is then influenced by the social currency generated through collective self-esteem (CS) so that the perception of CS can be considered as a mediating variable. Moreover, the communication network heterogeneity (CNH) moderates the above relationship, and the degree of heterogeneity will have different effects on the relationship of CS. The obtained conclusions enrich the previous theoretical results of PB and provided new insights for social managers to enhance the prosocial-related behaviors for the group, organization, and society.

show abstract

“I’m Proud to be a Little Bit Different”: The Effects of Autistic Individuals’ Perceptions of Autism and Autism Social Identity on Their Collective Self-esteem

Cited by 64 publications

References 32 publications

A systematic review on autistic people's experiences of stigma and coping strategies

A systematic review on autistic people's experiences of stigma and coping strategies

Autistic women’s diagnostic experiences: Interactions with identity and impacts on well-being

How Does Social Currency Influence Prosocial Behavior? The Role of Collective Self-Esteem and Communication Network Heterogeneity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About