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Social Support in Postsecondary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

A core diagnostic feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is social impairments. Although the number of students with ASD pursuing postsecondary education is growing, few institutions provide programs to help students cope with social aspects of postsecondary education. Here, we describe social support experiences of students with ASD participating in a peer mentorship program. A subset of the students (n = 23) enrolled in their first year of the Autism Mentorship Program (AMP) completed questionnaires assessing their perceived social support during their first year in the program. Development of social skills emerged as a popular goal among students and was a major topic of discussion within one-on-one meetings. Overall, students reported high satisfaction with the program and reported that the AMP helped them achieve their goals. However, students did not report increases in social support or quality of friendships assessed using standardized measures. Our results exemplify some of the challenges of improving social skills through a community-based program.

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Author notes

  1. Busisiwe L. Ncube and Komal T. Shaikh contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Busisiwe L. Ncube, Komal T. Shaikh & James M. Bebko

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

    Megan E. Ames

  3. Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Carly A. McMorris

Authors
  1. Busisiwe L. Ncube
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  2. Komal T. Shaikh
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  3. Megan E. Ames
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  4. Carly A. McMorris
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  5. James M. Bebko
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Correspondence to Komal T. Shaikh.

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B.N., K.S., M.A., C.M.M., and J.B. declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimental (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Ncube, B.L., Shaikh, K.T., Ames, M.E. et al. Social Support in Postsecondary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Int J Ment Health Addiction 17, 573–584 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9972-y

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