Autism Characteristics and Self-Reported Health in Older Adulthood

Developing the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)

Jennifer Lodi-Smith, Jonathan D Rodgers, Karl Kozlowski, Sarah Khan, Valeria Marquez Luna, Caleb J Long, James P Donnelly, Christopher Lopata, Marcus L Thomeer and Derek M Isaacowitz

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2021, vol. 76, issue 9, 1738-1744

Abstract: ObjectivesThe present research used a continuous measurement approach to extend the evidence that autism is associated with significant struggles in physical health as well as mental health and psychological well-being.MethodsThe relationship of autism characteristics to physical health and psychological well-being was examined in 294 individuals (M age = 70.51, SD age = 8.17, age range = 53–96). The sample is 57.4% female (n = 166) and primarily White (n = 270, 96.8%). The majority of the participants did not identify as having an autism diagnosis (n = 284, 96.6%). Participants completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale alongside self-report measures of physical health, mental health, and psychological well-being.ResultsAutism characteristics correlated strongly with challenges in social engagement due to poor health (r = 0.46), depression (r = 0.39) and anxiety (r = 0.47), limitations due to poor mental health (r = 0.41), satisfaction with life (r = −0.47), and psychological well-being (r = −0.62).DiscussionThese findings help shed light on the challenges experienced by individuals aging with elevated autism characteristics. The limitations of this study and prior work on this topic help identify important avenues for future research in this area.

Keywords: Autism; Autism-spectrum quotient scale; Autism spectrum; disorder; Healthy aging; Mental health; Physical health; Psychological well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbab136 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:76:y:2021:i:9:p:1738-1744.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().