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Language, Negative Affect, and Aggression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Title
Language, Negative Affect, and Aggression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Creator
Dreher, Taylor
Date
2019
Description
The goal of the present study was to use ecological momentary assessment to examine factors that predict aggression in children with Autism...
Show moreThe goal of the present study was to use ecological momentary assessment to examine factors that predict aggression in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In particular, this study sought to investigate the situation-level and person-level factors that predict the severity of children’s aggressive episodes. At the situation-level, we predicted that children would show more severe aggression after experiencing a negative affective state. At the person-level, we hypothesized that children with better grammatical and pragmatic language abilities would demonstrate less severe aggressive behavior. In addition, we predicted that language abilities would moderate the association between negative affect and aggression. We were unable to test these hypotheses due to a floor effect in the outcome variable. Thus, we conducted a series of analyses to examine how variables of interest were associated with the presence of aggressive behavior. We found an association between negative affect and aggression, such that children who experienced higher levels of negative affect were more likely to engage in aggressive behavior. However, there was not a significant relationship between language abilities and the presence of aggression. In addition, there was no evidence for a moderation effect. Future studies should examine other variables that may moderate or mediate the association between negative affect and aggression in children with ASD.
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Sense of Community and Virtual Community Among People with Autism Spectrum Conditions
Title
Sense of Community and Virtual Community Among People with Autism Spectrum Conditions
Creator
Rafajko, Sean I
Date
2020
Description
Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) face poorer quality of life (QOL) and psychological well-being. Sense of community (SOC) has...
Show moreIndividuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) face poorer quality of life (QOL) and psychological well-being. Sense of community (SOC) has been studied in the general population as well as in other disability populations and found to be associated with increased QOL outcomes. However, SOC has never been examined quantitatively in the ASC population. Additionally, a number of communities exist online, and there has been recent research showing that people may feel sense of virtual community (SOVC), which may be particularly important to the ASC population, as internet use is higher in the population, and people with ASC report positive experiences with online communication and relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine SOC and SOVC in the ASC population. A sample of 60 participants with ASC completed an online survey about their communities, SOC, SOVC, QOL, and psychological distress, and their results were compared with a sample of 60 general population participants (N = 120). Results indicated that people with ASC reported participating in a greater number of smaller relational communities compared to the general population sample. There were no significant differences between the ASC and general population samples on levels of SOC or SOVC, suggesting that the differential relationship of the ASC group with their communities does not reduce the experience of SOC. SOC significantly contributed to QOL but not psychological distress. Results indicated that the magnitude of the relationship between SOC and SOVC on QOL was not different between those with ASC and those in the comparisons sample. Findings from this study help frame the different ways in which people with ASC interact with their communities and inform individual and community-level interventions.
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