Personality & Autism Spectrum Disorder
One of the fundamental challenges for individuals with autism is experiencing self. This has served as the fulcrum for one of my primary areas of data collection in the past year, examining the identity content and clarity of individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. In collaboration with my colleagues at the Canisius’ Institute for Autism Research, new findings demonstrate that within a sample of typically developing individuals and individuals with autism, within a matched subsample, and compared to norms on target measures, individuals with high-functioning autism show challenges in all five Big Five traits and self-concept clarity. In addition, these personality differences partially mediate the relationship between autism characteristics and psychological well-being outcomes. Students are currently coding individual differences in narrative identity in this sample and, my colleague Jonathan Rodgers and I are pursuing funding for a longitudinal study of identity content and clarity alongside optimal aging in individuals with high-functioning autism. As both groups are part of a growing demographic, there is a clear need in the field for research on autism and aging. Longitudinal research in this population will help reveal how individuals with high-functioning autism age and the way in which individual differences impact this aging process. We are also actively working on the development of intervention protocols designed to promote healthy identity content and clarity in adults with autism spectrum disorder.