Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Impact of Stress and Instability on the Resilience and Well-Being of Children with Autism

该项目将分析不良童年经历(ACE)的类型和时机如何影响自闭症儿童的幸福感和韧性。该项目将在社会学、残疾研究和公共卫生领域促进对儿童不良事件的类型和时间如何影响自闭症儿童和类似弱势群体的理解，扩展当前的理论以包括残疾，并为减少自闭症儿童和其他弱势群体家庭不良事件的潜在干预措施提供信息。这项研究的更广泛影响包括通过将自闭症患者的经历更多地纳入当前理论，并创造关于自闭症儿童如何应对不良事件的知识，为自闭症患者及其家庭做出贡献。自闭症是一种终身发育障碍，据估计，每68名美国儿童中就有一人患有自闭症。与他们的同龄人相比，这一群体经历了各种健康差距，包括幸福感下降、家庭压力增加，以及更多的不利童年经历(例如，心理、身体或性虐待，和/或家庭功能障碍)。尚不清楚的问题包括：(1)这些差异可能是如何联系在一起的(例如，家庭压力是否会导致更多不利的童年经历，进而导致幸福感下降？)；(2)自闭症本身以及自闭症诊断过程的时机如何可能会增强这些差异；(3)这些差异的组合可能如何影响自闭症患者的人生轨迹；以及(4)自闭症儿童如何应对家庭压力或不利经历。本项目将通过回答三个主要问题来填补文献中的这些空白。首先，诊断年龄与ACE有何关联(例如，这些事件主要发生在诊断之前、诊断期间还是诊断后)？其次，对于自闭症儿童，ACEs与健康、内化行为、外化行为和学习成绩有什么关系？第三，扩展的韧性结构(包括内部和外部特征)是否在自闭症儿童的ACEs和幸福感之间起到中介作用？这项研究需要通过调查工具收集原始数据，这些数据将在网上传播给五个州(科罗拉多州、佐治亚州、爱达荷州、蒙大拿州和犹他州)自闭症儿童的父母。每个州的残疾人组织都同意通过其电子名单服务器向潜在参与者分发在线调查链接。将收集至少300份家长答复，以提供足够大的样本量进行必要的定量分析。

This project will analyze how the type and timing of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect the well-being and resilience of children with autism. This project will advance understanding of how the type and timing of adverse childhood events affects children with autism and similar vulnerable populations within the fields of sociology, disability studies, and public health, expand current theory to include disability, and inform potential interventions to reduce adverse events in families of children with autism and other vulnerable populations. The broader impacts of this study include contributions to individuals with autism and their families by promoting an increased presence of the experiences of people with autism into current theory and creating knowledge about how children with autism cope with adverse events. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability estimated to affect 1 in 68 U.S. children. Compared to their peers, this population experiences a variety of health disparities, including decreased well-being, increased family stress, and significantly more adverse childhood experiences (e.g., psychological, physical, or sexual abuse, and/or household dysfunction). Remaining unknowns include: (1) how these disparities may be connected (e.g., does family stress lead to more adverse childhood experiences, which in turn leads to decreased well-being?); (2) how autism itself, as well as the timing of the diagnostic process for autism, may enhance these disparities; (3) how the combination of these disparities may affect life course trajectories of individuals with autism; and (4) how children with autism cope with family stress or adverse experiences. This project will fill in these gaps in the literature by answering three primary questions. Firstly, How is age of diagnosis associated with ACEs (e.g., do these events primarily occur prior to, during, or post diagnosis)? Secondly, For children with autism, how are ACEs related to health, internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, and academic performance? Thirdly, Does an expanded construction of resilience (including both internal and external characteristics) mediate the relationship between ACEs and well-being for children with autism? This study requires the collection of original data through a survey instrument, which will be disseminated online to parents of children with autism in five states (Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, and Utah). Disability organizations in each of these states have agreed to distribute the online survey link to potential participants through their electronic listservs. A minimum of 300 parent responses will be collected to provide a large enough sample size for the necessary quantitative analyses.