The impact of a positive autism identity and autistic community solidarity on social anxiety and mental health in autistic young people.

This study looked at 121 autistic young people aged 15-22 to see how feeling positive about being autistic affects their mental health. Young people who felt good about being autistic had better wellbeing and less social anxiety. Those who felt connected to other autistic people also had better wellbeing. The research suggests it's important to help autistic young people feel positive about their autism and connect with others in the autistic community.

This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between positive autism identity, community solidarity, and mental health outcomes in 121 autistic young people aged 15-22 years. Participants completed questionnaires measuring autism traits, social anxiety, psychological well-being, autism satisfaction, and community solidarity. Results demonstrated that higher autism satisfaction was associated with better psychological well-being and reduced social anxiety. Stronger solidarity with the autism community was linked to improved psychological well-being, though no association was found between solidarity and social anxiety.

The findings suggest that fostering positive autism identity and community connections may be beneficial for mental health outcomes in autistic youth.

Clinicians should consider incorporating positive autism identity work and facilitating autism community connections as part of mental health interventions. Supporting young people to develop autism satisfaction may be particularly beneficial for reducing social anxiety and improving overall wellbeing.

Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference. Sample characteristics and recruitment methods not detailed in abstract. Reliance on self-report measures. Generalizability to broader autistic population unclear due to limited demographic information provided.

Autism is a diagnosis given to individuals by professionals but is also increasingly seen as an identity which an individual can choose for themselves. We wanted to explore how having autism as an identity affects autistic young people. There is evidence that autistic adults have better psychological well-being when they feel more solidarity with other autistic people and feel positively about being autistic. We know that autistic teenagers often feel anxious in social situations.

Having a positive autism identity might help alleviate social anxiety associated with being autistic. We wanted to find out if autistic young people who felt more solidarity with other autistic people, and had more positive feelings about autism, had better psychological well-being and less social anxiety. We asked 121 autistic people aged 15-22 years to complete some questionnaires. These questionnaires asked about the young person's autism traits, social anxiety, and psychological well-being.

The questionnaires also asked how satisfied they felt to be autistic (satisfaction) and how much solidarity they felt with the autism community (solidarity). We found that autistic young people who had higher autism satisfaction had better psychological well-being and lower social anxiety. Young people who felt more solidarity with other autistic people had higher psychological well-being. There was no association between autism solidarity and social anxiety.

We conclude that is important to support autistic young people to develop positive feelings about autism and to feel solidarity with other autistic people.