Psychiatric comorbidities are common in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and can have a negative impact on adaptive functioning and quality of life. Research has primarily focused on individual characteristics associated with internalizing problems such as age, intelligence, and social functioning. However, developmental theory supports the notion that individual level factors are necessary but not sufficient to understand the mental health of youth with ASD. Using the Family Ecology Framework as a guide, the purpose of this study was to examine how peer and family contexts are associated with anxiety and depression symptoms of adolescents with ASD. Using data from adolescents with ASD (13-17 years old) and their primary caregivers (N = 166), this study tested a conditional process model in which youths’ social-communication skills were associated with their mental health symptoms indirectly via experiences of peer victimization, with family competence acting as a buffer against the negative impact of peer victimization on anxiety and depression symptoms. Results suggest that the peer context is important when considering the mental health of adolescents with ASD. Specifically, deficits in social-communication skills were associated with higher levels of parent-reported anxiety and depression symptoms through increased adolescent-reports of peer victimization; however, the hypothesized buffering effect of family competence was not statistically significant. Findings from this study suggest the benefits of utilizing developmentally sensitive, contextual approaches when examining psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents with ASD.

Although it is widely assumed that positive peer status contributes to children's psychological adjustment, little is known about the nature of the status-adjustment relationship. The present study therefore investigated the relationship between elementary-school children's peer status and their concurrent sense of psychological well-being, examining: (a) feelings of well-being in socially rejected versus neglected children, and (b) social aspirations as a variable that may mediate the link between peer status and children's feelings of well-being. Two hundred sixty-nine fourth- and fifth-grade children participated. Peer status was assessed using positive and negative nomination sociometric measures. Four self-report measures were used to index the children's feelings of well-being. The Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1982) assessed feelings of depression, while the Children's Concerns Inventory (Buhrmester, 1982) assessed feelings of anxiety. Self-esteem and self-perceived social competence were measured using the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1979). A new self-report questionnaire, the Social Aspiration Scale, was developed to assess the level of the children's social aspirations. Results revealed significant, although unexpected, sex differences in the relationship between peer status and children's feelings of well-being. While low-status boys reported greater psychological distress than high-status boys, it was girls of high peer status as compared to those of low peer status who reported greater psychological distress. Within sex, rejected and neglected children tended to respond similarly across the four psychological adjustment measures. These results cast doubt on the assumption that popular children are all at an advantage in terms of their psychological well-being. It appears that this assumption may hold true for / boys, but be inappropriate for describing the experience of elementary-school girls. Data were obtained to support the reliability and validity of the Social Aspiration Scale. Children's social aspiration scores did not relate significantly to any of the peer status or psychological adjustment variables, however. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-02, Section: B, page: 0812. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

This cross-sectional, descriptive study examined the psychosocial development and well-being of U.S. early adults, 18-33 years of age, who were raised abroad and re-entered the U.S. after high school graduation. It was posited that the re-entry experience was best understood if viewed as a stressful life transition. / The following variables were examined in relation to (a) mental health, (b) early-adult life tasks, and (c) overseas sponsor and boarder group differences: stress at re-entry (retrospective assessment) and at present; mobility prior to and since re-entry; host country; degree of achievement of the early-adult tasks (i.e. establishing an occupational and an ideological identity, an intimate relationship and a meaningful life); timing perception (i.e. whether one perceives that he or she has taken less, the same or more time than peers to achieve life tasks), subject's sex and year of re-entry. / Stepwise regression analyses on mental health provided a total explained variance of 58.5%: The higher the meaningful life, the lower the present stress, the more years since re-entry and the higher the intimacy, then the higher the mental health. Sex of subject was also found to be significant. Analyses indicated that the variable of difference was intimacy, which appeared to contribute to the mental health of men, and not women, through the psychological distress subscale. / The life tasks were found to influence one another, with the meaningful-life variable repeatedly contributing the most explanation. Perception of timing, amount of time since re-entry and intimacy were also repeatedly found to contribute to early-adult task achievement. / Both sponsor groups and boarder groups differed on mobility patterns prior to re-entry. These findings appear to simply reflect sponsor life style differences. Sponsor groups also differed on stress at re-entry and at present, with the missionary sponsor group reporting the most stress at both re-entry and at present. / Overall findings appeared to support a conceptualization of re-entry as a stressful life transition that requires returnees to reconstruct meaningful lives within an unfamiliar setting. Mental health score patterns suggest that this life reconstruction is a demanding task that takes a number of years to accomplish. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: B, page: 3433. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

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