Jennifer W. Yu

BACKGROUND : With evidence pointing to particularly poor employment outcomes for young adults with ASD, it is important to understand their employment experiences in order to develop effective interventions that address their needs.
OBJECTIVE : We compared the job search experience, job duration, and j ob loss of young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their peers with four other types of disabilities.
METHODS : The study analyzed wave 5 data collected in 2009 from youth or their parents who were included in the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), a nationally representative sample of youth who received special education services in high school.
RESULTS : Among 21 to 25 year olds with ASD, fewer than 30% were looking for a paid job at the time of the interview and approximately 22% found a job on their own, the lowest rates among the five disability groups included in the analyses. It took them an average of 14 months to find a job, longer than the other disability groups. Young adults with ASD held a job for an average of 24 months, longer than youth in two of the other disability categories. The main reason young adults with ASD became unemployed is because their temporary job ended. Those who were older, were from higher-income households, had better conversational or functional skills, or attended postsecondary schools had more positive employment experiences.
CONCLUSIONS : Young adults with ASD experienced considerable difficulty obtaining long-term employment, and more research is needed to determine strategies for improving their employment outcomes.

The aim of this study was to examine two under-studied factors integral to the theoretical underpinnings of contact-based mental illness stigma reduction programs: the quality of the contact and prior personal experience with persons with mental health problems. This study utilized pre- and post-survey data collected from 4122 individuals participating in a diverse set of contact-based educational programs implemented as part of California’s statewide initiative to reduce mental illness stigma. Multi-level mixed regression models were used to determine whether pre-post changes in a variety of stigma-related measures varied depending on perceived quality of contact and prior personal experience with mental illness. Significant pre-post reductions in stigma were observed, but individual perceptions of contact quality strongly moderated program effects. Mean contact quality across all attendees at a presentation was rarely a moderator. Though effective for all participants, on average, contact-based educational programs were more effective for those without prior personal or family experience of mental illness. Program organizers may wish to target recruitment efforts to reach more individuals without such experience, given the greater effectiveness of contact among these individuals. More research should explore the factors underlying individual variation in perceived quality of contact-based stigma reduction programs.

This study examines the prevalence of trauma experiences and traumatic stress in a diverse group of Asian American middle school students from a large urban school district. Descriptive statistics document the mean number of self-reported trauma experiences and posttraumatic stress subscale scores and how these rates differ by students’ gender and Asian ethnic subgroups (including Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Southeast Asian, and Other). Furthermore, we assess the degree to which 1 or more traumatic events is associated with students’ self-reported symptoms of severe traumatic stress and the types of traumatic events that are the most powerful predictors of elevated stress. These in-depth findings underscore the need for routine, school-based screening to identify and bring culturally competent, trauma-informed support and interventions to Asian American middle school students experiencing traumatic stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Approximately 80% of college-going youth with autism in the US attend a 2-year college at some point. These community-based, universally accessible institutions offer both academic and vocational courses and have experience in teaching diverse learners. This study used nationally representative survey data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 to describe the characteristics and services experiences of adults with autism who attended postsecondary education after high school, focusing on those who attended a 2-year college. Over 60% of those who attended 2-year colleges had little to no trouble conversing or performing functional skills like counting change during high school, and extracurricular participation was common (93.8%). Most 2-year college attenders (85.7%) were able to navigate to places outside the home versus 43.9% of those with no postsecondary education. Over half took vocational courses at 2-year colleges, while one-quarter pursued academic study. Less than half (48.6%) of those who disclosed their disability to the school reported receiving services, accommodations, or other help. Most (87.3%) felt they received enough help, but fewer (68.0%) felt the services they received were useful. Future research should delineate specific needs of students with autism in 2-year college settings and identify what supports are needed to improve persistence and completion rates.