Ratings of Social Difficulties By IQ in Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background:  Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a persistent and debilitating condition which frequently affects social ability. Despite increases in research examining social skills interventions for children and adolescents with ASD, few studies target social skills interventions for adults with ASD. Better understanding of areas of social deficit based on IQ would be helpful to understand how to design social skills interventions for young adults with ASD.

Objectives:  This study examined the differences in self-report and other-report of social responsiveness of young adults with ASD when grouped by IQ.

Methods:  Participants included forty-nine adults (77.6% male, 77.6% Caucasian) between the ages of 18- and 35-years-old (M = 23.19, SD = 4.13). Participants were divided into groups based on the median composite IQ score (<100, N = 24; >100, N = 25). Prior to beginning a social skills intervention, composite IQ was estimated using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Scale, Second Edition (KBIT-2; M = 98.61, SD = 19.89). Participants and their elected reporters (parents or close family members) also each completed the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2). Additionally, the participants completed the Achenbach Adult Self-Report (ASR) and a close family member completed the Achenbach Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL).

Results:  One-way ANOVAs revealed significant differences between the higher and lower IQ groups on the SRS-2 parent-report of social cognition (F=4.04, p = .05), SRS-2 self-report of social motivation (F = 5.91, p = .019), ABCL intrusive subscale (F = 4.15, p = .047), and ASR avoidant personality problems (F = 8.38, p = .006). Participants with higher IQs reported more problems with social motivation and avoidant personality problems, while participants with lower IQs had close family members report more problems with social cognition and intrusive behaviors. A significant correlation (r = .522, p = .007) was found between other- and self-report of social motivation as measured by the SRS-2 for the high IQ group only. A significant correlation (r = .435, p = .034) was found between other-and self-report of social cognition for the low IQ group only.

Conclusions:  Participants with higher IQs experience more problems with social motivation (which participants and their elected reporters agreed on) and being avoidant of others, which may be a reflection of their difficulties with social anxiety. Participants with lower IQs experience more problems with social cognition (which participants and their elected reporters agreed on) and not understanding when they are being intrusive (e.g., not recognizing boundaries), which may be a reflection of their difficulties with understanding social cues. This reinforces the concept of having two slightly different tracks of the social skills intervention to give the two IQ groups a different experience that would be geared more toward what would help them succeed in social situations.