Self-reported Everyday Sources of Happiness and Unhappiness in Autistic Adults.

PURPOSE: Daily mood can be influenced by a range of experiences. Identifying everyday life experiences that make autistic adults happy and unhappy holds potential to foster positive mood and tackle mental health problems amongst this group. METHODS: A total of 293 autistic adults between the ages of 18 to 35 years old (mean age of 26.51 years old (SD = 4.62); 43.3% female gender, 4.8% nonbinary) provided open-text responses regarding everyday sources of happiness and unhappiness. Using an iterative process of inductive coding, 14 happy themes and 22 unhappy themes of mood-changing life experiences were identified based on self-report qualitative data. RESULTS: Common themes across the happy and unhappy domain involved social partners, social interactions, and engagement in recreational and employment activities, with additional distinct themes specific to happy or unhappy mood. Top themes identified in the happy domain emphasizes encouraging quality relationships and positive interactions with others and cultivating supportive work/societal environments to build a sense of achievement and value. Meanwhile, emotional tolls accompanied negative relationships and interactions, underscoring the necessity to provide autistic adults with conflict resolution and coping skills to increase feelings of happiness. CONCLUSION: Overall, the wide range of sources of happy and unhappy everyday experiences highlights the importance of considering personal preferences in engagement with others and activities in treatment.

Efficacy of Community-Delivered PEERS® for Adolescents: Increases in Social Skills and Decreases in Social Anxiety and Loneliness.

PURPOSE: PEERS® for Adolescents is an evidence-based social skills training program developed for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is now widely implemented by community providers in clinics and schools. However, majority of past efficacy studies on PEERS® were conducted in controlled research settings, with limited information about its effectiveness when delivered in the community. We sought to examine the effects of PEERS® on social functioning and mental health outcomes when delivered in an outpatient autism specialty clinic. METHODS: Clinical data from 45 adolescents with social challenges (age range: 11-18 years old; 31.1% female assigned at birth) were extracted for secondary analyses. Paired t-tests were performed to examine the pre- to post-intervention changes in social and mental health outcomes. Correlations between pre- and post-change scores of outcome measures were examined. RESULTS: Self-reported social skills knowledge, caregiver-reported social skills (measured by the Social Skills Improvement Systems) and the number of get-togethers hosted, increased significantly from pre- to post-intervention. Additionally, caregiver-reported anxiety and self-reported loneliness significantly decreased from pre- to post-intervention. Exploratory analyses showed that increases in caregiver-reported social skills were associated with decreases in self-reported loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence supporting the efficacy of PEERS® for improving social knowledge and skills of adolescents with social challenges when delivered in the community. The current study also showed the potential benefit of PEERS® for improving adolescent mental health.

The Associations Between Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, Internalizing Symptoms, and Academic Performance in Children With Reading Disorder: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) was associated with anxiety, depression, and academic performance (AP) in children with reading disorder (RD), and whether ADHD-Inattention (ADHD-IN) moderated these relationships. METHOD: Parents and teachers of children with RD (N = 147, ages 6-18) completed evaluations of SCT, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and AP, every 3 months for 18 months. Baseline and longitudinal associations between SCT and outcomes, and effect moderation of ADHD-IN, were assessed. RESULTS: Teacher-rated SCT was positively associated with teacher-rated anxiety (p < .001) and negatively associated with AP (p < .001) cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with significant effect modification by ADHD-IN for both outcomes. SCT was not associated with depression in adjusted cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. There were no significant findings for any parent-reported measures. CONCLUSION: SCT has negative effects on anxiety and AP in children with RD among individuals with low ADHD-IN according to teacher report. Targeted treatment of SCT may provide substantial benefits.

The role of grit and resilience in children with reading disorder: a longitudinal cohort study.

Prior studies have suggested that grit and resilience predict both academic and career success. However, these qualities have not been examined in children with reading disorder (RD). We therefore investigated whether grit and resilience were associated with anxiety, depression, academic performance, and quality of life (QOL) in these students. This 3-year longitudinal cohort study included 163 participants with RD from 3 schools. Evaluations were completed by parents and/or teachers every 3 months. The Grit and Resilience Scale was adapted from the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the 12-item Grit Scale. Outcome measures included anxiety (School Anxiety Scale - Teacher Report and the 8-item Spence Children's Anxiety Scale), depression (Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire), academic performance, and QOL (Pediatric QOL Inventory 4.0). Multivariate linear regression models (adjusting for age and sex) assessed the associations at baseline. Repeated measures analysis using mixed-effects models assessed the relationship longitudinally. There were statistically significant associations between grit and resilience and all outcomes at baseline and over time. After adjusting for age and sex, improved grit and resilience was associated with decreased anxiety (ß = - 0.4, p < 0.001) and improved academic performance (ß = 0.5, p < 0.001) when grit and resilience was measured by teachers, as well as decreased depression (ß = - 0.3, p < 0.001) and improved QOL (ß = 0.6, p < 0.001) when grit and resilience was measured by parents. Grit and resilience are significantly related to mental health, academic performance, and QOL in children with RD. This suggests that interventions to improve grit and resilience may lead to positive benefits.