By Matt Carey
A recent effort supported by the Autism Science Foundation sought to gather information on the status and needs of adult autistics. The UJA Adult with ASD Survey used an online survey as part of the Interactive Autism Network (IAN). The survey collection ended December 31st of 2012, but shortly afterwards the results of another IAN based survey were published by a team from Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. The paper, The association between bullying and the psychological functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders, was based on a survey of parents of school aged autistic children. This appears to be the same study whose preliminary results were released last year as IAN Research Report: Bullying and Children with ASD. I’ll work from the abstract (below) and the IAN preliminary report both as they are publicly available. And, since the IAN preliminary report is so accessible, I won’t go into great detail here.
The results are not surprising: autistics are bullied more often. While this may not come as a shock, having this data is the first step to effecting change. And, yes, autistics can play the role of the bully, but often with different motivations than their non-autistic peers. This figure from the preliminary report says a great deal: a much higher (about 3x more) percentage of autistics were bullied.
Those with Asperger syndrome were reported as being bullied more often than those with other ASD diagnoses. The preliminary report also lists behaviors and traits that increased the likelihood of bullying:
•Clumsiness
•Poor hygiene
•Rigid rule keeping (enforcing adults’ rules when other children would not)
•Continuing to talk about a favorite topic even when others are bored or annoyed
•Frequent meltdowns
•Inflexibility or rigidity
Sadly, one group that was frequently bullied was children with ASD who wanted to interact with other children, but had a hard time making friends. Of these, 57% were bullied, compared to only 25% of children who prefer to play alone and 34% of children who will play, but only if approached. The one slightly bright spot was that children who had learned to make friends successfully were bullied at a lower rate: 34%.
While autistics bully more often than their non-autistic peers, they mostly play the role of “bully-victims”. From the preliminary report: Unlike victims who are more passive, bully-victims insult their tormentors or otherwise try to fight back in a way that only makes the situation worse.
Again, IAN has an excellent discussion of this study. It is worth noting that a study creates awareness in the research community and provides the type of data from which questions can be formed. Just as we can hope that this study will spark further work, we can hope that the UJA Adult with ASD Survey will provide a basis for more work, and some solutions to the issues uncovered.
Here is the abstract for the published paper:
OBJECTIVE: : Bullying has become a major national concern, particularly as it affects children with disabilities. The current study aimed to determine the association between psychiatric comorbid conditions, involvement in bullying (victim, bully, or bully-victim), and the immediate psychological correlates of bullying among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).
METHODS: : A national sample of 1221 parents completed a survey dedicated to the bullying and school experiences of their child with ASD, reporting on the immediate consequences of bullying involvement, including their child’s psychological well-being and any psychiatric comorbidity. Multivariate logistic regressions were performed to determine whether specific psychiatric comorbidities were associated with an increased risk of involvement as victim, bully, or bully-victim. Analyses of variance determined the relationship between bullying frequency and psychological functioning. All models adjusted for child and school covariates.
RESULTS: : Children who were frequently victimized were more likely to present with internalizing symptoms, whereas children who frequently bullied others were more likely to exhibit emotion regulation problems. Children who were identified as frequent bully-victims presented with both internalizing symptoms and emotion regulation problems. Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression were more likely to have been victimized, whereas children with conduct disorder (CD) or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) were more likely to have bullied other children. Children identified as bully-victims were more likely to have ADHD, CD, or ODD.
CONCLUSIONS: : Children with ASDs who had displayed bullying behaviors in the past month exhibited psychological impairments, including psychiatric comorbidity. The frequency of bullying behaviors was significantly associated with the level of impairment.
