ArticleJournal of clinical psychology2025
Understanding Autistic Young Adults' Perceptions and Experiences of Traumatic and Stressful Events.
Article in Journal of clinical psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring the autism and functional neurological disorder association: Considerations from biopsychosocial, neuropsychological and computational models.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Review
- Case Report: Integration between eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and cognitive therapy for autism spectrum disorder. Novel intervention protocol based on case formulation and brief review of literature.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe aim of this study was to explore how young autistic adults experience and respond to stressful life events, and the relationship between autistic characteristics and symptoms of stress associated with these events.
methodsUsing an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, an online qualitative survey was first administered to 50 autistic young adults asking about their perceptions of trauma and the role that autistic behaviours may play in their perceptions of and responses to traumatic events. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. To examine the generalisability of these findings, a quantitative survey was developed based on the themes generated and then administered to 150 autistic and 149 non-autistic young adults.
resultsAutistic and non-autistic participants described similar perceptions of trauma. Autistic participants reported greater interpersonal trauma exposure and more symptoms of stress than non-autistic comparisons. Among participants who experienced a DSM-5-TR traumatic event, autistic traits (as measured by select items of the Social Responsiveness Scale [SRS-2]) accounted for a combined 16.2% of the variance in PTSD symptoms (as measured by the PTSD Checklist [PCL-5]). Autistic participants highlighted that a significant factor that sets their experience apart from that of non-autistic individuals is that autism is already a challenging condition to manage. Participants identified four main ways that autism and trauma interact: (1) autism increases one's vulnerability to experiencing a stressful event, (2) autism amplifies the impact of the trauma, (3) autistic behaviours can serve as healthy or unhealthy coping mechanisms, and (4) autism compounds barriers to receiving support.
conclusionsAn overarching theme that permeated the narratives of autistic young adults was, "The autistic experience of trauma is fundamentally different." There is thus a need for clinicians to develop thorough case conceptualisations that consider the interaction between autism and trauma when working with an autistic population.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.