Poly-victimization of autistic adults: An investigation of individual-level correlates

Autistic people experience high rates of violence and victimization which is largely due to structural injustices, including stigma and social attitudes. Identifying and addressing systemic and structural factors is vitally important, however effecting change in embedded social structures is likely to take some time, even with concerted efforts. In the meantime, it is important to understand whether there are other individual-level factors that may assist in developing preventative and protective strategies for autistic people. The current study investigated the role of individual-level risk factors in the victimization of autistic people. Specifically, we examined whether characteristics that are common among autistic people that is, lower social competence, higher compliance and emotion regulation difficulties or more ADHD features (inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity) were associated with poly-victimization in a community sample of 228 adults (118 autistic, 110 non-autistic). Our results show that only ADHD features were predictive of poly-victimization once socio-demographic background variables (age, sexual orientation) were adjusted for. Group status was not a significant predictor in the model and there were no interaction effects between any of the characteristics and group status. These findings suggest that, regardless of whether a person is autistic, ADHD features may place individuals at higher risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence in adulthood. Further research using longitudinal designs and larger, diverse samples is needed. Furthermore, the regression model only accounted for about one-third of the variance in poly-victimization which highlights the importance of looking beyond individual-level risk factors to structural and systemic factors that contribute to disproportionate victimization of autistic people. This study explored whether individual-level factors are associated with experiencing multiple types of violence for autistic adults. We asked 118 autistic adults and 110 non-autistic adults to complete measures of ADHD features, social competence, emotion regulation, compliance, and experiences of violence. For both groups, only ADHD features predicted multiple types of violence once sexual orientation and age were taken into account. However, these factors only provide a partial explanation for why victimization is so commonly experienced by autistic people. Broader societal factors are likely to be much more important. Future research should concentrate on how we can make autistic people's homes, workplaces and communities safer.

Automated summary

Autistic individuals often face high rates of violence and victimization due to societal stigma and attitudes. While addressing systemic factors is important, it is also necessary to identify individual-level risk factors that may contribute to prevention and protection strategies for autistic individuals. This study found that ADHD features were the only predictive factor of experiencing multiple forms of violence, highlighting the need for future research to focus on broader societal factors and create safer environments for autistic people.