Academic and psychosocial characteristics of incoming college freshmen with autism spectrum disorder: The role of comorbidity and gender

Abstract

There is a pressing need to better characterize the college-bound population of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as prior studies have included small samples, consisting of individuals who are either recruited due to diagnosis or are treatment seeking. As postsecondary institutions look to respond to the growing need for support services for individuals with ASD, insights derived from large, population-based samples is a necessity. The current study included a sample of over 2000 incoming postsecondary students who self-identified with ASD as a part of surveys distributed by institutions nationally. The impact of heterogeneity (gender, comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], and/or learning disability) on demographic characteristics, and psychosocial (psychological health, interpersonal self-confidence) and academic (self-regulated learning, intellectual self-confidence) domains critical for success in postsecondary education were compared to a matched sample of students with ADHD or no diagnoses. College-bound students with ASD broadly endorsed similar rates of ADHD, LD, and psychological disorder comorbidity to clinic-referred samples, and were more similar than different from their typically developing peers. A comorbid diagnosis of ADHD was associated with greater academic disengagement. Females with ASD and those with any comorbid disorder were more likely to self-report poorer psychological health. Findings revealed that self-reported levels of functioning in critical domains differed by self-reported comorbid disorders and gender. Findings have implications for targeted support service recommendations based on unique sources of heterogeneity (e.g., gender, presenting comorbid disorders) and are detailed in the current study. Autism Res 2019, 12: 931-940.Lay Summary: College-bound students with ASD feel academically competent; however feel less confident with their peers. Students with ASD and another diagnosis (e.g., ADHD, learning disability) and girls with ASD may be particularly at risk of experiencing poorer psychological health while enrolled in postsecondary education. Using this information, postsecondary institutions can provide more targeted support services to students with ASD enrolled in postsecondary education.

Comparing the writing skills of autistic and nonautistic university students: A collaboration with autistic university students

“…Although the automated rating system revealed evidence that autistic college students tended to produce writing samples of greater structural quality than writing samples produced by nonautistic college students, no significant differences in the writing produced by autistic and nonautistic college students emerged from qualitative coding. This evidence that autistic and nonautistic college students produce writing that is more similar than it is different aligns with emerging evidence from the first large-scale comparisons of autistic and nonautistic students which suggests that there are fewer differences between autistic and nonautistic college students than might have been expected based on earlier smaller scale studies (Bakker et al, 2019; Sturm & Kasari, 2019).…”

“…Future research using multiple writing samples derived from larger samples recruited from multiple institutions should examine the possibility that heightened creativity and/or reduced emotional impact may be more common in writing produced by autistic relative to nonautistic college students. Such research should compare the nonverbal intelligence and writing skills of autistic and nonautistic students to see if autistic students commonly exhibit heightened skills relative to their counterparts at different institutions, as our findings and recent research (Bakker et al, 2019; Sturm & Kasari, 2019) suggest is the case. It is possible that autistic students may often exhibit academic strengths as they may have had to overcome more obstacles (e.g.…”

“…Evidence that autistic students may experience academic strengths relative to nonautistic students was also apparent in another recent study. Using the Freshman Survey, distributed to incoming university students throughout the United States, Sturm and Kasari (2019) obtained a sample of 2211 incoming autistic freshmen. After matching autistic and nonautistic students in terms of gender, income, race, university selectivity, and depression, they found that autistic students reported heightened intellectual self-confidence (a composite variable representing intellectual, writing, mathematics, and academic skills) but reduced interpersonal self-confidence relative to their nonautistic peers.…”

“…The reliance on community classifications of autism is a limitation, albeit one that is shared with much of the research about autistic university students (e.g. Ames et al, 2016; Hillier et al, 2018; McLeod et al, 2019; Schindler et al, 2015; Sturm & Kasari, 2019) and writing (e.g. H.…”

“…Recent large-scale studies suggest that autistic university students are more likely to be male, White, and from high-income families than nonautistic students (e.g. Bakker et al, 2019; McLeod et al, 2019; Sturm & Kasari, 2019). Researchers should control for these demographic differences analytically while working together to develop systematic strategies to help more diverse autistic students overcome the barriers they face accessing the opportunities they deserve.…”