Autism Symptoms, Executive Functioning and Academic Progress in Higher Education Students.

Many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) attending higher education drop out prematurely. The predictive value of self-reported daily executive functioning (EF) and (cognitive) performance-based EF (mental flexibility and working memory) for academic progress was evaluated in 54 young adults with ASD (Mage = 22.5, SD = 2.4, 72% male). Regression analyses showed that autism symptom severity explained 12% of variance in academic progress, which was raised to 36% by adding self-reported daily EF, and to 25% by adding performance-based EF. It is suggested that EF is a candidate marker for academic progress in higher education students with ASD and a candidate target for early intervention.

Social Attention and Emotional Responsiveness in Young Adults With Autism.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are generally characterized by marked impairments in processing of social emotional information, but less is known about emotion processing in adults with the disorder. This study aimed to address this by collecting data on social attention (eye tracking), emotional arousal (skin conductance level, SCL), and emotional awareness (self-report) in a paradigm with social emotional video clips. Fifty-two young, intelligent adults with ASD (IQrange = 88-130, Agerange = 18-24) and 31 typically developing (TD) ASD (IQrange = 94-139, Agerange = 19-28) gender matched controls participated and reported on severity of autism symptoms [Social Responsiveness Scale for Adults (SRS-A)]. Results showed no group difference in social attention, while autism symptom severity was related to decreased attention to faces across participants (r = -.32). Average SCL was lower in the ASD group, but no group difference in arousal reactivity (change from baseline to emotional phases) was detected. Lower SCL during video clips was related to autism symptom severity across participants (r = -.29). ASD individuals reported lower emotional awareness. We conclude that, even though no deviations in social attention or emotional reactivity were found in ASD, an overall lower level of social attention and arousal may help explain difficulties in social functioning in ASD.

Emotional Arousal During Social Stress in Young Adults With Autism: Insights From Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability and Self-Report.

In order to better understand which factors play a role in non-adaptive social behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) we looked into physiological arousal and awareness of one's own emotions. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during a public speaking task in 51 young adults with ASD and 28 typically developing (TD) controls. The results showed no significant group differences in baseline HR/HRV, HR reactivity (change from baseline to the speaking task) or self-reported emotional awareness. However, adults with ASD showed significantly lower HRV reactivity (p = .023, d = 0.6) compared to TD adults. These results suggest a mismatch between arousal regulation and emotional awareness, which may be related to problems in social adaptation in ASD.

Impairments in cognitive empathy and alexithymia occur independently of executive functioning in college students with autism.

Reduced empathy and alexithymic traits are common across the autism spectrum, but it is unknown whether this is also true for intellectually advanced adults with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether college students with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulties with empathy and alexithymia, and whether this is associated with their cognitive levels of executive functioning. In total, 53 college students with autism spectrum disorder were compared to a gender-matched group of 29 neurotypical students on cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy and alexithymia. In addition, cognitive performance on executive functioning was measured with computerized and paper-and-pencil tasks. The autism spectrum disorder group scored significantly lower on cognitive empathy and higher on cognitive alexithymia (both d = 0.65). The difference on cognitive empathy also remained significant after controlling for levels of cognitive alexithymia. There were no group differences on affective empathy and alexithymia. No significant relations between executive functioning and cognitive alexithymia or cognitive empathy were detected. Together, these findings suggest that intellectually advanced individuals with autism spectrum disorder experience serious impairments in the cognitive processing of social-emotional information. However, these impairments cannot be attributed to individual levels of cognitive executive functioning.

Self-regulation and quality of life in high-functioning young adults with autism.

BACKGROUND: Autism is generally associated with poor functional outcome but little is known about predictors of quality of life, especially during early adulthood. This study was conducted to assess subjective quality of life during early adulthood in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder and its relation with self-regulating abilities. Individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder who progressed into post-secondary higher education ( N = 75) were compared to a typical peer control group ( N = 28) based on behavioral self-report questionnaires. The results indicated that individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder reported significantly lower subjective quality of life than typical controls ( p < 0.001, effect size ( d) = 1.84). In addition, individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder reported more problems with emotion processing ( p < 0.05, effect size ( d) = 0.79) and daily executive functioning ( p < 0.001, effect size ( d) = 1.29) than controls. A higher level of executive functioning problems was related to lower quality of life in the high-functioning autism spectrum disorder group, but no significant relation between level of emotion processing and subjective quality of life became apparent in the regression analysis. Our findings show that even in high-functioning young adults with autism, executive functioning, emotion processing, and subjective quality of life are low compared to typically developing peers. Furthermore, these results emphasize the importance of targeting executive functioning problems in individuals with autism to improve subjective quality of life.