Inter‐relationships between trait resilience, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes in autistic adults

Abstract

Resilience has been depicted as a key characteristic in the promotion of mental health in the face of stress and adversity. Despite high levels of stress encountered in the autistic population, resilience studies remain scarce. Using data from an Australian longitudinal adult study, this study explored the inter-relationships between trait resilience, coping, and mental health in a sample of autistic adults (N = 78). In particular, we examined the relationship between resilience and use of coping strategies, and the potential mediating role of coping strategies in the relationship between resilience and mental health outcomes. Our findings suggested that increased use of engagement coping (e.g., problem-solving, positive appraisal) and decreased use of disengagement coping (e.g., self-blame, being in denial) strategies were associated with higher levels of resilience. Further, mediation analysis results suggest that disengagement coping mediated the associations between resilience and all three mental health outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, and well-being), while engagement coping strategies mediated the relationship between resilience and well-being only. Our results illustrate that coping strategies may be an important mechanism in explaining the resilience-mental health relationship in autistic adults, highlighting the importance of considering stressrelated constructs together (i.e., trait resilience and coping) when addressing support and intervention options for mental health difficulties in the autistic adult population. Lay SummaryThis research explored how resilience and coping strategies influence the mental health and well-being of autistic adults. We found that resilient autistic adults used more engagement coping strategies, less disengagement coping strategies, and reported better mental health and well-being. Considering stress-related factors together (i.e., resilience and coping) offers a novel perspective to mental health difficulties in autistic adults and may be a vital step in the development of support options in this population.

Analysis of the resilience level and associated factors among patients with lumbar disc herniation

“…Although the impaired psychological state has been commonly documented in previous studies ( Yüksel et al., 2021 ), this, as far as we know, might be the first report revealing resilience level among LDH patients. Since resilience-promoting strategies can help individuals overcome adversity, stress, and setbacks ( Luo et al., 2021 ; Muniandy et al., 2021 ), we thus reasonably argue that increasing the resilience level would represent a highly effective avenue to improvement of the mental health of LDH patients based on the negative correlation between resilience and anxiety in LDH patients as revealed in the present study.…”

Stress and well‐being in autistic adults: Exploring the moderating role of coping

“…increasing engagement coping, reducing disengagement coping strategies) may be important as both intervention targets and outcome measures. Relatedly, in laying the foundation for more adaptive coping appraisals and strategy use, it would be pertinent to also build coping resources such as improving self‐esteem and resilience, which can interact with coping processes and foster the use of more engagement, approach‐related coping (Leandro & Castillo, 2010; Muniandy et al, 2021b; Taylor & Stanton, 2007).…”

Associations between coping strategies and mental health outcomes in autistic adults

“…Our findings are in line with increasing calls for the need to develop evidence‐based interventions for autistic adults with a focus on coping and managing stressful events (e.g., Bishop‐Fitzpatrick et al, 2015; Hirvikoski & Blomqvist, 2015). Taking a holistic approach and incorporating other stress‐related constructs such as resilience could also be beneficial since these constructs are inter‐related (Muniandy et al, 2021b). While there are several intervention programs tailored for autistic adults such as ACCESS (Oswald et al, 2018) and STEPS (White et al, 2017) that do include coping skills, these programs remain quite broad and cover a range of target areas.…”

“…Similarly, findings surrounding the use of approach, engagement type coping strategies in autistic samples have also been mixed, with studies reporting positive (Pouw et al, 2013; Rieffe et al, 2014) or no associations (Khor et al, 2014; Rieffe et al, 2011) between these strategies and improved mental health. While coping has recently been suggested to play a mediating role in the relationship between trait resilience and mental health in autistic adults (Muniandy et al, 2021b), a more in‐depth understanding of how various coping strategies relate to mental health outcomes, and how this may compare to non‐autistic adults is needed.…”