title: Perceived social support in adults with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: Perceived social support (PSS) has been related to physical and mental well-being in typically developing individuals, but systematic characterizations of PSS in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are limited. We compared self-report ratings of the multidimensional scale of PSS (MSPSS) among age- and IQ-matched groups of adults (18-58 years) with cognitively high-functioning ASD (N = 41), or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; N = 69), and neurotypical controls (NC; N = 69). Accompanying group comparisons, we used machine learning random forest (RF) analyses to explore predictors among a range of psychopathological and socio-emotional variables. Relative to both ADHD and NC, adults with ASD showed lower MSPSS ratings, specifically for the friends subscale (MSPSS-f). Across ASD and ADHD, interindividual differences in autism severity, affective empathy, symptoms of anxiety related to social interactions, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and somatization best predicted MSPSS-f. These relationships did not differ between clinical groups. While group comparisons demonstrated greater impairment in individuals with ASD, analyzing individuals' characteristics revealed cross-diagnoses similarities in regard to their MSPSS-f relationships. This is consistent with the Research Domain Criteria framework, supporting a trans-diagnostic approach as on the path toward "precision medicine." Autism Res 2017, 10: 866-877. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Fernandez
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Hallie R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Yihong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Raithel
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Somer L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Sarah B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.affiliation: Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lord
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.|Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petkova
authors.affiliation: The Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Martino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D057566:Self Report; D012944:Social Support; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adults; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; autism spectrum disorder; perceived social support; social cognition