The relationship between stress and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is understood to be a behaviourally-defined continuum of characteristics that typically involve social interaction and communication deficits and certain sensory and perceptual experiences. In the present series of studies we investigated the nature of the stressful events and situations (i.e. acute, chronic, and daily hassles) experienced by adults with High-functioning Autism (HFA). Second, we evaluated which aspects of these stressful events and situations were associated with the severity of affective symptoms (i.e. anxiety, depression) in people with HFA. Third, we evaluated the manner in which people with HFA coped with these stressors and how they utilised social support, relative to people without the disorder. Finally, we evaluated whether coping strategy use and social support moderated (i.e. reduced) the association of high stress to worse anxiety and depression, separately in people with and without HFA. Paper 1 aimed to qualitatively examine a sample of adults diagnosed with HFA (N=91), in particular, to ask them about which aspects of the environment were most stressful for them and their psychological response to them. Paper 2 aimed to systematically explore which aspects of the environment are most stressful for people with HFA (N=91) (e.g. social interaction), and which stressor characteristics (e.g. chronicity, severity, relatedness to HFA) will best predict their psychological response (i.e. depression, anxiety) to stress using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS). Paper 3 aimed to evaluate the specific coping strategies used by adults with HFA (N=183) to help them cope with stressful situations including social support utilisation by evaluating a broad range of different coping strategies, functions of coping, and social support utilization, and how they are related to psychological stress, anxiety and depression in adults with HFA compared to adults without HFA (N=424). Paper 4 aimed to evaluate coping strategies and social support utilisation as potential moderators of the high stress to worse affective symptom relationship in people with (N=183) and without HFA (N=424). Paper 5 aimed to utilise the ASD-specific stress measure (The Stress Survey Schedule; SSS) to empirically examine the usefulness of the scale in adults with HFA (N=183) by comparing them to adults without HFA (N=424), so as to better understand the specific psychological needs of this clinical population. The SSS item responses obtained from people with HFA were examined to assess the scale's validity and reliability in this clinical population. The measure was then used to explore the relationship between daily stressors, psychological stress, and affective symptoms in people with HFA. In addition to the SSS, well-established and valid measures of stressors (LEDS), psychological stress, affective symptoms (i.e. Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale; DASS-21), coping (Brief COPE), and social support utilisation (Social Support Questionnaire; SSQ) were used to evaluate the parameters in these studies. In addition, the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TMSC) and the mind-blindness hypothesis of ASD were used to assist in the exploration of these states in people with HFA, and their relationship to stressors, coping and social support.