Self-regulation and quality of life in high-functioning young adults with autism
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Summary
This study investigates subjective quality of life (QoL) and its relationship with self-regulation abilities in high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). While autism is often associated with poor functional outcomes, little is known about predictors of QoL during the transition to early adulthood. The researchers aimed to determine if young adults with HFASD report lower QoL, executive functioning (EF), and emotion processing compared to typically developing peers, and whether these self-regulation deficits predict subjective QoL. The study included 75 young adults with HFASD enrolled in post-secondary higher education and 28 typically developing control students. Participants completed behavioral self-report questionnaires assessing subjective QoL (Quality of Life Questionnaire), executive functioning (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function for Adults), and emotion processing (Bermond–Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine which self-regulation variables best predicted QoL in the HFASD group, controlling for age, gender, and autism traits. Results indicated that individuals with HFASD reported significantly lower subjective QoL than controls (effect size d = 1.84). Specifically, the HFASD group reported lower satisfaction with education, physical condition, partner relationships, social relationships, state of mind, and future perspectives. Additionally, the HFASD group exhibited significantly more problems with daily executive functioning (d = 1.29) and the cognitive component of emotion processing, particularly in identifying and verbalizing emotions (d = 0.79). Regression analysis revealed that higher levels of executive functioning problems were significantly associated with lower subjective QoL in the HFASD group, explaining 22.1% of the variance. In contrast, emotion processing problems did not show a significant relationship with QoL in the regression model, nor did autism symptom severity significantly impact the model. The findings demonstrate that even in high-functioning young adults with autism, executive functioning, emotion processing, and subjective quality of life remain lower than in typically developing peers. Crucially, the study identifies executive functioning deficits as a key predictor of reduced subjective QoL. These results emphasize the importance of targeting executive functioning problems in clinical interventions for individuals with autism to improve their well-being and adaptive outcomes during early adulthood.
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | OpenAlex-citations | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| archive | success | openalex | — | — | 5 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-20 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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