Parent Characteristics As Predictors of Social Skills Outcomes Among Young Adults with ASD Following the UCLA PEERS® Intervention

Background: The effectiveness of parent and caregiver assistance in social skills treatment programs has been established in studies with those with ASD from childhood (Frankel et al. 2010) through adulthood (Laugeson et al. 2015; Van Hecke et al. 2015). The durability of treatment gains following these parent- and caregiver-assisted programs has also been established months to years following intervention in studies with children (Mandelberg et al. 2014), adolescents (Laugeson et al. 2012; Mandelberg et al. 2014), and young adults with ASD (Laugeson et al. 2015). While research suggests that caregiver-assisted programs provide robust treatment outcomes for youth with ASD, the influence of parent characteristics on treatment outcomes has yet to be examined extensively across age groups. Although there is limited research investigating parent characteristics impacting treatment outcome for children and adolescents (Chang et al. 2014), the impact of these characteristics for young adults requires further examination.

Objectives: The present study examines parent characteristics including education level, ethnicity, and marital status as predictors of social skills outcomes among young adults with ASD following a 16-week caregiver-assisted social skills intervention.

Methods: Participants included 59 young adults (78% male; M=21.39, SD=2.59) and their caregivers. All young adult participants had clinically-elevated ASD symptoms, as determined by a total score ≥ 60 on the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition (SRS-2; Constantino 2012) at baseline. Participants attended the UCLA Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), a 16-week empirically-supported caregiver-assisted group social skills intervention for young adults with ASD. Baseline caregiver characteristics were assessed using demographic questionnaires prior to start of the program. Treatment outcome was assessed pre- and post-intervention using caregiver-reported change in frequency of social engagement on the Quality of Socialization Questionnaire (QSQ; Laugeson & Frankel 2010), social responsiveness on the SRS-2, and social and behavioral functioning on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott 1990).

Results: Paired samples t-tests revealed that caregiver ethnicity and education level were not significantly related to change in frequency of social engagement on the QSQ, social responsiveness on the SRS-2, or social and behavioral functioning on the SSRS. Paired samples t-tests also revealed that caregiver marital status was not significantly related to change in frequency of social engagement or social and behavioral functioning. However, marital status was related to change in social responsiveness at trend-level significance (t=1.835; p<.05), such that caregivers with no marital partner reported greater improvement in young adult social responsiveness pre- to post-intervention.

Conclusions: Findings reveal that parent ethnicity, education level, and marital status are not predictive of improvement in social engagement, social responsiveness, or social and behavioral functioning among young adults with ASD following the PEERS® intervention. However, at trend-level significance, marital status was related to change in social responsiveness, such that caregivers with no marital partner reported greater improvement in young adult social responsiveness. These findings are useful in determining who is most likely to benefit from caregiver-assisted social skills interventions and the caregiver characteristics potentially impacting treatment outcomes.