The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people
Autism is increasingly seen as a social identity, as well as a clinical diagnosis. Evidence suggests that autistic adults who have stronger autism social identification have better psychological well-being. Autism is a condition which impacts on social interactions, and so one’s sense of autism iden...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publications
2022
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| _version_ | 1797112605888741376 |
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| author | Cooper, K Russell, AJ Lei, J Smith, LG |
| author_facet | Cooper, K Russell, AJ Lei, J Smith, LG |
| author_sort | Cooper, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Autism is increasingly seen as a social identity, as well as a clinical diagnosis. Evidence suggests that autistic adults who have stronger autism social identification have better psychological well-being. Autism is a condition which impacts on social interactions, and so one’s sense of autism identification may be particularly important for reducing social anxiety, which is common in autistic adolescents. We aimed to investigate how the subcomponents of autism identification relate to social anxiety in autistic young people. We hypothesised that autistic young people who had a higher satisfaction with their autism identity, and more solidarity with other autistic people, would have better psychological well-being and lower social anxiety. 121 autistic young people between the ages of 15–22 completed questionnaires measuring self-reported autism traits, social anxiety, psychological well-being, and different components of autism social identification. We conducted regression analyses controlling for age, gender, and autism traits. We found that higher autism satisfaction was associated with higher psychological well-being and lower social anxiety. Young people with higher autism solidarity had higher psychological well-being, but there was no significant relationship between solidarity and social anxiety. We conclude that it is important to support autistic young people to develop autism social identification. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:26:30Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9c2653e3-564b-4e42-9529-3323a2d50777 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:26:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9c2653e3-564b-4e42-9529-3323a2d507772024-02-20T06:23:59ZThe impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young peopleJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9c2653e3-564b-4e42-9529-3323a2d50777EnglishSymplectic ElementsSAGE Publications2022Cooper, KRussell, AJLei, JSmith, LGAutism is increasingly seen as a social identity, as well as a clinical diagnosis. Evidence suggests that autistic adults who have stronger autism social identification have better psychological well-being. Autism is a condition which impacts on social interactions, and so one’s sense of autism identification may be particularly important for reducing social anxiety, which is common in autistic adolescents. We aimed to investigate how the subcomponents of autism identification relate to social anxiety in autistic young people. We hypothesised that autistic young people who had a higher satisfaction with their autism identity, and more solidarity with other autistic people, would have better psychological well-being and lower social anxiety. 121 autistic young people between the ages of 15–22 completed questionnaires measuring self-reported autism traits, social anxiety, psychological well-being, and different components of autism social identification. We conducted regression analyses controlling for age, gender, and autism traits. We found that higher autism satisfaction was associated with higher psychological well-being and lower social anxiety. Young people with higher autism solidarity had higher psychological well-being, but there was no significant relationship between solidarity and social anxiety. We conclude that it is important to support autistic young people to develop autism social identification. |
| spellingShingle | Cooper, K Russell, AJ Lei, J Smith, LG The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title | The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title_full | The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title_fullStr | The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title_short | The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
| title_sort | impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people |
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