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Predictors of Decreased Dating Anxiety in Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder Following the PEERS® for Young Adults Intervention
Young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who suffer from core social skill deficits often lack the appropriate behavioral repertoire necessary to interact with others according to social convention; deficits that may affect their ability to develop and maintain meaningful relationships (Rao, Beidel, & Murray, 2008). The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for Young Adults is a 16-week evidence-based, caregiver-assisted intervention shown to significantly improve social skills knowledge, social responsiveness, and relationship skills in young adults with ASD (Gantman, Kapp, Orenski, & Laugeson, 2012). In addition to friendship skills, PEERS® for Young Adults also targets skills related to developing and maintaining romantic relationships and decreasing dating anxiety. However, predictors of a treatment outcome related to decreased dating anxiety have yet to be examined.
Objectives:
The present study examines the extent to which self-reported empathy, emotion regulation and social skills decreased dating anxiety following the completion of the PEERS® for Young Adults intervention.
Methods:
Thirty-eight young adults with ASD ranging from 17-24 years of age (M=19.84, SD=1.76) participated in weekly 90-minute group treatment sessions for 16-weeks as part of the PEERS® for Young Adults program. To assess treatment outcome, young adult participants completed pre and post-treatment measures including the Dating Anxiety Scale (DAS; Glickman & La Greca, 2004). In order to assess predictors of decreased dating anxiety following treatment, baseline measures were examined, including young adult self-reports on the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004), Social Skills Inventory (SSI; Riggio, 1986), and the Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to understand the relationships between baseline functioning and decreased dating anxiety following treatment.
Results:
Results suggest that dating anxiety decreased in young adult participants following treatment (p<.05). Further, results indicate that baseline young adult-reported emotional and social communication skills on the SSI (p<.05), awareness and understanding of emotions on the DERS (p<.10), and empathy on the EQ (p<.10) predict greater decrease in dating anxiety over the course of the intervention.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that upon entry into treatment, young adults with ASD with better self-reported emotional and social communication skills, greater awareness and understanding of emotions, and higher empathic abilities are more likely to decrease in their dating anxiety over the course of the PEERS® for Young Adults intervention. These findings are important because they provide useful information about who may be more likely to benefit from targeted treatment to decrease dating anxiety in young adults with ASD.
See more of: Specific Interventions - Non-pharmacologic