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Relating ASD symptoms to well-being: moving across different construct levels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2017

M. K. Deserno ,
D. Borsboom ,
S. Begeer  and
H. M. Geurts
M. K. Deserno*
Affiliation:
Dr. Leo Kannerhuis and REACH-AUT, Doorwerth, The Netherlands Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. Borsboom
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
S. Begeer
Affiliation:
Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
H. M. Geurts
Affiliation:
Dr. Leo Kannerhuis and REACH-AUT, Doorwerth, The Netherlands Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
Author for correspondence: M. K. Deserno, E-mail: m.k.deserno@uva.nl
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Abstract

Background

Little is known about the specific factors that contribute to the well-being (WB) of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A plausible hypothesis is that ASD symptomatology has a direct negative effect on WB. In the current study, the emerging tools of network analysis allow to explore the functional interdependencies between specific symptoms of ASD and domains of WB in a multivariate framework. We illustrate how studying both higher-order (total score) and lower-order (subscale) representations of ASD symptomatology can clarify the interrelations of factors relevant for domains of WB.

Methods

We estimated network structures on three different construct levels for ASD symptomatology, as assessed with the Adult Social Behavior Questionnaire (item, subscale, total score), relating them to daily functioning (DF) and subjective WB in 323 adult individuals with clinically identified ASD (aged 17–70 years). For these networks, we assessed the importance of specific factors in the network structure.

Results

When focusing on the highest representation level of ASD symptomatology (i.e. a total score), we found a negative connection between ASD symptom severity and domains of WB. However, zooming in on lower representation levels of ASD symptomatology revealed that this connection was mainly funnelled by ASD symptoms related to insistence on sameness and experiencing reduced contact and that those symptom scales, in turn, impact different domains of WB.

Conclusions

Zooming in across construct levels of ASD symptom severity into subscales of ASD symptoms can provide us with important insights into how specific domains of ASD symptoms relate to specific domains of DF and WB.

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorderwell-beingdaily functioningconstruct levelsnetwork analysis.
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 7 , May 2018 , pp. 1179 - 1189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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