■自决,广义地描述为经历因果代理,与生活质量(QoL)呈正相关,并通过满足三个基本心理需求而增加:自主性(感觉能够在压力下做出选择),能力(感知自我效能感),和相关性(社会联系)。不支持的环境和社交互动的挑战都会干扰心理需求的满足。社会挑战是自闭症诊断的关键特征,和不支持的环境也被认为对自闭症患者的QoL产生不利影响。自闭症患者报告说,平均而言,比没有自闭症的人更低的自决权。因此,据推测,更高水平的自闭症特征可能会减少发展自决的机会,影响QoL。
■我们测试了一个平行的间接效应模型,在该模型中,我们假设自闭症特征与QoL的四个领域之间的关系(心理,社会,物理,和环境)将通过自决(通过满足自主的基本心理需求来表示,能力,和相关性)。这项研究吸引了来自普通人群的参与者(N=262;MAGE=37.6,标准偏差=11.92;1.9%报告了自闭症诊断,2.7%被确定为自闭症患者,没有诊断)。参与者完成了一项在线调查。
■较高的自闭症特征与较低的自决水平和较低的QoL水平相关,孤独症特征与QoL之间通过自决存在显著的间接效应。更具体地说,我们通过能力发现自闭症特征和所有QoL领域之间存在显著的间接影响;自闭症特征和环境之间,社会,通过相关性和心理QoL域;通过自主性在自闭症特征与物理和环境QoL域之间进行。
■我们的结果表明,支持满足自治需求,能力,和相关性可能是设计有效计划以支持具有较高自闭症特征的人(可能包括自闭症个体)的自决发展以及支持这些人改善其QoL的重要因素。
为什么这是一个重要的问题?在这项研究中,我们研究了自闭症特征如何影响自决和生活质量。生活质量是你对自己生活环境的感觉。在这项研究中,我们研究了生活质量的四个方面-心理(例如,心理健康),社交(你如何与他人互动),物理(例如,残疾或疾病),和环境(例如,你住的地方)。自决是根据自己的需要选择的能力,需要,和利益,没有压力的感觉。要自我决定,你需要满足你对自治的需求(体验自由选择),能力(感觉能够有效地做事),和相关性(感觉与他人联系)。满足这些需求会受到你周围世界的影响(例如,你住的地方,如果你有工作,无论你是残疾人)以及你周围的人的行为和信仰。自闭症特征较高的人报告说,平均而言,与自闭症特征较低的人相比,生活质量和自决权较低。因为其他研究人员发现自决会影响生活质量,较低的自决水平可能部分解释了较低的生活质量。促进自决的计划可能会减少自闭症患者和非自闭症患者之间的生活质量差距。这项研究的目的是什么?我们认为自决可能部分解释了为什么具有较高自闭症特征的人比具有较低自闭症特征的人生活质量低,所以我们想测试一下这个想法。研究人员做了什么?我们要求人们回答有关自闭症特征的问题,自决,和生活质量的在线调查。我们对他们的答案进行了统计分析,以找出自闭症特征是否影响了自决水平(自主感,能力,和相关性)或生活质量(心理,社会,身体和环境的生活质量)。这项研究的结果是什么?自闭症特征没有直接影响心理,物理,但直接影响社会生活质量。在我们的研究中,与自闭症特征较低的人相比,自闭症特征较高的人对心理需求的满足程度较低。心理需求满意度较低的人也报告了较低的生活质量。自闭症特征影响了自决,进而影响生活质量。这些发现对已经知道的东西有什么贡献?据我们所知,这是第一项探索自闭症特征之间关系的研究,自决,和生活质量。我们的结果表明,自闭症特征水平较高的人可能报告生活质量较低,部分原因是自闭症特征可能使其难以自我决定。这项研究的潜在弱点是什么?我们调查了一群普通人群的自决和生活质量。我们没有比较自闭症患者和非自闭症患者。虽然一些研究表明,具有高度自闭症特征的人在某些方面可能与自闭症患者相似,不一定总是这样。我们不能假设其他组的结果是一样的,自闭症特征会导致较低的自决权,或者较低的自决导致较低的生活质量。我们也没有考虑所有可能影响自决或生活质量的事情(例如,人们居住的地方,他们有多少钱,或者他们的健康状况)。这些发现将如何帮助现在或将来的自闭症成年人?具有较高自闭症特征的人(包括自闭症成年人)可能会发现,由于他们的自闭症特征(例如,社交互动中的困难,感官敏感性),也因为学校,工作,和社区系统可能不是为了支持接受差异而设计的。这项研究的结果表明,较高的自闭症特征可能难以满足自主性的心理需求,能力,和亲密关系。需要进行比较自闭症和非自闭症人群的研究,以确定可能支持自闭症人群自决发展的个人和环境因素,并使他们能够实现更高的生活质量。
UNASSIGNED: Self-determination, described broadly as experiencing causal agency, is positively associated with quality of life (QoL) and increases through satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy (feeling able to make choices free from pressure), competence (perceived self-efficacy), and relatedness (social connection). Both unsupportive environments and challenges with social interaction can interfere with satisfaction of psychological needs. Social challenges are a key trait for autism diagnosis, and unsupportive environments are also known to adversely affect QoL for autistic people. Autistic people report, on average, lower self-determination than non-autistic people. Therefore, it is hypothesized that higher levels of autistic traits may reduce opportunities to develop self-determination, affecting QoL.
UNASSIGNED: We tested a parallel indirect effects model where we hypothesized that the relationships between autistic traits and four domains of QoL (psychological, social, physical, and environmental) would be indirectly influenced through self-determination (represented through satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness). This study drew participants from the general population (N = 262; M AGE = 37.6, standard deviation = 11.92; 1.9% reported an autism diagnosis and 2.7% identified as autistic without a diagnosis). Participants completed an online survey.
UNASSIGNED: Higher levels of autistic traits were associated with lower levels of self-determination and lower levels of QoL, and there was a significant indirect effect between autistic traits and QoL via self-determination. More specifically, we found a significant indirect effect between autistic traits and all QoL domains via competence; between autistic traits and the environmental, social, and psychological QoL domains via relatedness; and between autistic traits and the physical and environmental QoL domains through autonomy.
UNASSIGNED: Our results suggest that supporting satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness may represent an important element in designing effective programs to support the development of self-determination in people with higher levels of autistic traits (potentially including autistic individuals) and also to support these people to improve their QoL.
Why is this an important issue? In this study, we looked at how autistic traits might affect self-determination and quality of life. Quality of life is the way that you feel about your own life circumstances. In this study, we looked at four aspects of quality of life—psychological (e.g., mental health), social (how you interact with other people), physical (e.g., disability or sickness), and environmental (e.g., where you live). Self-determination is the ability to choose based on your own wants, needs, and interests, without feeling pressured. To be self-determined, you need to meet your needs for autonomy (experiencing free choice), competence (feeling able to do things effectively), and relatedness (feeling connected with others). Meeting these needs is affected by the world around you (e.g., where you live, if you have a job, whether you are disabled) and by the actions and beliefs of the people around you. People with higher autistic traits report, on average, lower quality of life and self-determination than people with lower autistic traits. Because other researchers have found that self-determination influences quality of life, lower levels of self-determination might partly explain lower quality of life. Programs that promote self-determination may reduce the gap in quality of life between autistic and non-autistic people. What was the purpose of this study? We thought that self-determination might partly explain why people with higher autistic traits report lower quality of life than people with lower autistic traits, so we wanted to test this idea. What did the researchers do? We asked people to answer questions about autistic traits, self-determination, and quality of life in an online survey. We statistically analyzed their answers to find out whether autistic traits influenced the levels of self-determination (feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness) or quality of life (psychological, social, physical and environmental quality of life). What were the results of this study? Autistic traits did not directly influence psychological, physical, or environmental quality of life but did directly influence social quality of life. In our study, people with higher autistic traits reported less satisfaction of their psychological needs than people with lower autistic traits. People with lower satisfaction of psychological needs also reported lower quality of life. Autistic traits influenced self-determination, which in turn influenced quality of life. What do these findings add to what was already known? To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to explore relationships between autistic traits, self-determination, and quality of life. Our results showed that people with higher levels of autistic traits may report lower quality of life partly because autistic traits might make it difficult to become self-determined. What are the potential weaknesses in the study? We investigated self-determination and quality of life among one group of people from the general population. We did not compare autistic and non-autistic people. While some studies have shown that people with high levels of autistic traits may be similar to autistic people in some ways, this is not necessarily the case all the time. We cannot assume that results will be the same in other groups, that autistic traits cause lower self-determination, or that lower self-determination causes lower quality of life. We also did not consider all the things that might have influenced self-determination or quality of life (e.g., where people lived, how much money they had, or what their health was like). How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future? People with higher autistic traits (including autistic adults) may find it harder to be self-determined both because of their autistic traits (e.g., difficulty in social interaction, sensory sensitivities) and also because school, work, and community systems may not be designed to support acceptance of differences. The results from this study suggest that higher autistic traits might make it difficult to meet the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Research that compares autistic and non-autistic people is needed to determine both personal and environmental factors which may support the development of self-determination in autistic people and empower them to achieve higher quality of life.