Social Capital and Autism in Young Adulthood: Applying Social Network Methods to Measure the Social Capital of Autistic Young Adults

Abstract

Social isolation is a core challenge associated with autism. Interpersonal relationships and the resources and support embedded in the social networks of autistic young adults could impact key adult outcomes, including quality of life, mental health, employment, and independence. However, little research systematically measures the networks of autistic young adults and network impact on key adult outcomes. This article demonstrates how social network analysis can be adapted for the field of autism to measure young adult networks. We provide examples as to how this approach could be implemented to yield key insights into the amount and quality of interpersonal relationships and the types of resources embedded in the networks of autistic young adults. The network protocol was feasibility tested with autistic adults during the posthigh school transition period (n = 17, 19-27 years). The parents of three of the recruited young adults also successfully completed a complementary network survey, allowing for the inclusion of the parent-reported network using duocentric network analysis, never before applied to parent-child networks. The implementation data collected from the study suggest feasibility of egocentric and duocentric approaches, with several important modifications to adapt the measure for the field of autism. The future potential of social network research for understanding autism in adulthood is discussed.

Evidence from the Autism Transitions Research Project (2017–2022): Capstone review and services research recommendations

“…One review article noted that under‐represented study participants included autistic individuals who were women, transgender, non‐White, low income, and those with intellectual disability or with minimal speaking communication (McGhee Hassrick et al, 2021). Nine studies utilized self‐reported responses of autistic individuals (Fernandes et al, 2021; Hotez et al, 2022; McGhee Hassrick et al, 2020; Song, Nonnemacher, Miller, Anderson, & Shea, 2022; Song, Salzer, Nonnemacher, Miller, & Shea, 2022; Song, Salzer, Nonnemacher, & Shea, 2022; Sosnowy et al, 2018; Sosnowy et al, 2019; Steinberg et al, 2022). Six articles included autistic co‐authors on the writing team (Lord et al, 2022; Roux et al, 2019; Roux, Rast, Anderson, et al, 2020; Roux, Rast, Garfield, et al, 2020; Shattuck et al, 2020; Steinberg et al, 2022).…”

“…Overall, across topical domains, studies were lacking in inclusion of autistic participants, a focus on equity, or use of multisectoral data. However, studies pioneered advances in the measurement of gender identity (Steinberg et al, 2022), sexual and reproductive health (Graham Holmes et al, 2020), community participation (Song, Nonnemacher, Miller, Anderson, & Shea, 2022; Song, Salzer, Nonnemacher, Miller, & Shea, 2022) and social networks (Hassrick et al, 2018; McGhee Hassrick et al, 2020).…”