Parent-child Relationship Quality and Pre-vocational Skills and Activities in Autistic Youth

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Rates of unemployment and underemployment among autistic adults remain high and are expected to rise over the next decade, with more and more autistic adolescents transitioning into adulthood. There is a critical need to investigate mechanisms that lead to better vocational outcomes for autistic youth. Parent-child relationship quality is one modifiable factor that theory and prior research suggests is important to vocational success. Career construction theory highlights the importance of the early parent-child relationship in a child’s sense of security, mental health, and self-determination, shaping their later career development. This process is virtually unknown in autistic populations even though autistic individuals rely heavily on their parents as a primary source of support across the lifespan. To improve later vocational outcomes, it is critical to first investigate modifiable factors which can improve pre-vocational skills and activities. Pre-vocational skills and activities, defined as work-related functional skills (e.g., self-direction, social competence, behavior) and experiential learning opportunities (e.g., job exploration, shadowing) are particularly important to investigate because of their ties to vocational outcomes in adulthood. We will leverage two existing longitudinal datasets of autistic youth to understand the impact of parent-child relationship quality in childhood and adolescence on pre-vocational skills and activities during the transition out of high school. Our central hypothesis is that parent-child relationship quality will predict pre-vocational skills and activities, mediated by self-determination and mental health. Aim 1a will use data from the Family Outcomes in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) study involving 176 triads of autistic children (mean age 8 years at baseline, followed for 5 years) and their mothers and fathers. In this aim, we will examine longitudinal profiles of parent-child relationship quality across five data points during childhood as a predictor of pre- vocational skills (i.e., work-related functional skills). Aim 1b will use data from the Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (CSESA) study involving 547 diverse autistic adolescents (mean age 16 years at baseline, followed for 7 years) and their parents. In this aim, we will similarly examine longitudinal associations between parent-reported relationship quality and pre-vocational skills and activities. Aim 2 will investigate youth self-determination and mental health, reported by autistic youth and their parents, as mediators of the pathways between parent-child relationship quality and pre- vocational skills and activities in the CSESA dataset. In an exploratory Aim 3, we will investigate whether parent-child relationship quality and pre-vocational skills and activities in high school predicts job status and satisfaction after high school exit in a subset of the CSESA sample for which post high school data is available (n=211). The proposed secondary data analysis will provide new information about the role of parent-child relationship quality in pre-vocational skills and activities, contributing to theory and practice.