Exploring the perception of autonomy and independence of adults with autism spectrum disorder: association with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

• Grant number: 24/19436-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz Teixeira
• Grantee: Valentina Acosta Bermúdez
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Background: The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) must be detected early in the period of child development, however, as it is a chronic mental disorder, it prevails thorughout life. Although prevalence data in the adult population is still not acurate, appoximately 1 in avery 36 children has ASD. Anxiety and depression disorders are two mental conditions highly co-current with ASD that can be identified since childhood. Although studies are scarce, there is evidence on how depression and anxiety can interfere with a person with ASDs perception of having control over ther life, being able to make decisions, feeling a lack of autonomy and independence and perceiving a worse quality of life than oher people without the disorder. Objectives: a) compare the perception of autonomy and independence between Brazilian adults with ASD and adults without ASD and without other mental health conditions b) ezplore the association between mental health conditions (specifically, anxiety and depression) and the perception of autonomy and independence of Brazilian adults with ASD. Method: The present project is part of a cross-cultural involving the countries of Japan, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, the United Stares, India and Brazil. In the case of Brazil, the study design will be cross-sectional with a sample composed by 50 adults with ASD and 50 neurotypical adults without ASD and without mental health problems (control group), all aged between 18 and 50 years. The instruments are: Sociodemographic and Health Questionnaire, Adult Seld Report for Adults between 18 ann 59 years old, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, Visual Analogue Scale of Psychological Independence and Autism Spectrum Quotient. The data analysis procedures will be descriptive statistics with measures of mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage calculations, chi-square tests or independent samples t-test ti compare the prevalence of anxiety and depression between participants with ASD and neurotypical participants, multiple regression analysis to determine the extent to which anxiety and depression ate predictors of independent living, controlling for the covariates age, sex, marital status, educational level, family income, occupation and familiar composition. Expected results: as this project is part of a cross-cultural study involving five more countries, ir is expected to verify how co-current symptoms of anxiety and depression are related to measures of independence and wheter these relationships vary between different countries.