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Abstract

Compared to their nonautistic peers, lower levels of life satisfaction have been reported by autistic individuals. It is unclear, however, whether autistic individuals with intellectual disability report similar levels of life satisfaction as autistic individuals without intellectual disability or which characteristics are associated with life satisfaction. This study sought to examine differences in levels of self-reported life satisfaction across those with and without intellectual disability and explore correlates of life satisfaction in a sample of 35 autistic youth with intellectual disability and 99 autistic youth without intellectual disability. No difference in self-reported life satisfaction was detected between autistic youth with and without intellectual disability. Greater self-reported life satisfaction was associated with higher self-determination for autistic youth without intellectual disability. For autistic youth with intellectual disability, greater self-reported life satisfaction was related to more frequent social participation, lower parent stress, and fewer unmet service needs. Unmet service needs and parent stress were significantly stronger correlates of life satisfaction for youth with intellectual disability compared to youth without intellectual disability. Although the sample size of autistic youth with intellectual disability was small, these findings suggest the importance of considering heterogeneity among individuals on the autism spectrum when seeking to understand their well-being.

Lay abstract

Autistic people report lower life satisfaction compared to people without autism. It is unclear whether autistic people with intellectual disability report similar levels of life satisfaction to autistic people without intellectual disability. In this study, we did not find a difference in levels of life satisfaction for autistic youth with intellectual disability compared to autistic youth without intellectual disability. We also identified factors that might promote better life satisfaction. Higher self-determination was related to higher life satisfaction for autistic youth without intellectual disability. For autistic youth with intellectual disability, more frequent social participation, lower parent stress, and fewer unmet service needs were associated with higher life satisfaction. Unmet service needs and parent stress were more strongly related to life satisfaction for youth with intellectual disability compared to youth without intellectual disability. Our findings suggest that taking a more individualized approach to support the well-being of autistic youth is important.

Keywords

autism spectrum disorder Satisfaction with Life Scale subjective well-being transition-aged youth

Historically, research on well-being in autism has focused on normative outcomes, such as living independently, securing paid employment, and obtaining and maintaining friendships. However, there is increasing recognition that subjective indicators of well-being are also important for autistic individuals (Kapp, 2018; Lam et al., 2021; Taylor, 2017). Life satisfaction, defined as the judgment of an individual’s life based on their own set of criteria (Pavot & Diener, 1993), is one essential indicator of subjective well-being that has been extensively studied in the general population (Buecker et al., 2023). A growing body of literature has found lower levels of self-reported life satisfaction in autistic individuals compared to their nonautistic peers (Feldhaus et al., 2015; Franke et al., 2019; Griffiths et al., 2019; Schmidt et al., 2015; Tsermentseli, 2022). For instance, Tsermentseli (2022) found that 78% of autistic participants (compared to 38% of their nonautistic peers) reported dissatisfaction with their lives, underscoring the critical need to identify ways to support well-being in this population.

It is unclear whether autistic individuals with co-occurring intellectual disability (ID), characterized by impairments in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), report similar levels of life satisfaction as those without ID. Studies that have examined the relationship between cognitive ability and subjective well-being or related constructs (e.g., subjective quality of life and psychological well-being) among autistic individuals demonstrate conflicting findings (Kamp-Becker et al., 2010; Lord et al., 2020; Moss et al., 2017; Scheeren et al., 2022). For instance, Scheeren et al. (2022) found that higher IQ was associated with lower subjective well-being in autistic adults aged 18 to 30. In contrast, Lord et al. (2020) did not detect a difference in psychological well-being between a group of autistic adults with IQs < 70 and a group with IQs ⩾ 70.

Reasons for conflicting findings may be caused, at least in part, by differences in samples and data collection methods. Some of these reports lack adequate representation of autistic participants with below-average IQ (Kamp-Becker et al., 2010; Scheeren et al., 2022). For example, Kamp-Becker et al. (2010) did not include participants with an IQ of 70 or below, and though Scheeren et al. (2022) included autistic adults with lower IQ (below 85), those individuals only comprised 8% of their sample. Studies that have included autistic individuals with lower IQ in their samples employed a combination of self- and informant-report to evaluate subjective well-being and related constructs (Lord et al., 2020; Moss et al., 2017; Scheeren et al., 2022). However, this approach can limit the interpretability of the findings, as informant- and self-report of well-being tends to differ in autistic samples (Evers et al., 2022). To date, no study has captured self-reported levels of subjective well-being for autistic youth with ID. Ascertaining the perspective of this group will provide increased clarity on whether levels of life satisfaction differ between autistic youth with and without ID.

In addition to examining differences in levels of life satisfaction for autistic youth with and without ID, it is important to identify specific correlates within each group that may highlight opportunities for targeted intervention. For this study, we explored two factors theoretically linked to subjective well-being: self-determination and social participation. Self-determination refers to actions that enable a person to serve as the causal agent in their life (Shogren et al., 2017). According to Causal Agency Theory, basic psychological needs motivate individuals to become agents of their own actions, which in turn enhances overall well-being (Shogren et al., 2017). Research supports this premise with studies generally finding that greater self-determination skills are associated with increased quality of life and subjective well-being in those with ID (Lachapelle et al., 2005; Mumbardó-Adam et al., 2024; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1998; but see Shogren et al., 2006). Notably, this relationship has rarely been examined in autistic individuals, who demonstrate lower levels of self-determination than those with other diagnoses, including ID and learning disabilities (Chou et al., 2017; Qian et al., 2022). One study that investigated the association between self-determination and quality of life (a related construct to life satisfaction) in autistic young adults found a positive link but did not include individuals with co-occurring ID (White et al., 2018).

Participation in social activities is another factor theoretically linked to subjective well-being through the need for affiliation with others (Newman et al., 2014). A body of empirical work demonstrates that participation in social activities is associated with greater levels of subjective well-being (Kroencke et al., 2023; Schulz et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2020), and increasing evidence suggests that this is true for autistic individuals (Bailey et al., 2020; Schmidt et al., 2015). A study by Schmidt et al. (2015) found that social participation explained half of the variance in the life satisfaction of autistic adults with average-to-above-average IQs. Though not yet investigated in autistic individuals with ID, there is some evidence to suggest that social participation is associated with constructs related to life satisfaction in this group. Specifically, Taylor et al. (2024) found that among autistic youth with IQs of 70 or below, the number of social activities and whether that amount met their needs were associated with better parent-reported psychological quality of life. This study will examine whether these associations are also present when focusing on self-reported life satisfaction, as predictors of self- and informant-report measures of well-being can differ (Hong et al., 2016; Moss et al., 2017).

Given the lack of research examining life satisfaction among autistic individuals with ID, in addition to focusing on correlates of life satisfaction in the existing literature, we also considered factors associated with other adult outcomes in autistic individuals: parent stress and unmet service needs. Parents play an important role in supporting their child’s socio-emotional development, even into adulthood (e.g., Greenberg et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2008; Woodman et al., 2015). Research suggests that when parents are distressed, their ability to support their child in achieving objective outcomes like employment is diminished (Taylor & DaWalt, 2017), which could lead to lower levels of life satisfaction, as it does in the general population (Chen & Hou, 2019; Huppert & Whittington, 2003). Stress is a particularly important component of distress to study among parents of autistic children, as it tends to be higher than parents of nonautistic children (Hayes & Watson, 2013) and is amenable to intervention (Curley et al., 2023).

Receipt of disability-related services is an essential component of support for autistic youth, especially those with ID, that is tied to improvement in objective outcomes like employment (Alverson & Yamamoto, 2017; Roux et al., 2021). Yet many transition-age autistic youth are without access to necessary services (Laxman et al., 2019; Song et al., 2022). As the aim of disability services is to enhance well-being, it is likely that more unmet service needs are associated with lower life satisfaction for autistic youth. To date, one study has examined a possible link between unmet service needs and a related construct to life satisfaction (i.e., quality of life) in autistic adults with average-to-above-average IQs and found that a greater number of unmet needs was associated with lower quality of life (Renty & Roeyers, 2006). As autistic individuals with ID tend to have higher support needs than their autistic peers without ID (Guillén et al., 2023), access to necessary services may be especially important for life satisfaction in this group, but this has yet to be examined.

Exploring correlates of life satisfaction among autistic participants with diverse cognitive abilities is critical. This is particularly important because autistic individuals with ID are underrepresented in research, and generalizing findings from studies that only include autistic participants without ID can lead to erroneous conclusions and ineffective interventions for those with ID (Russell et al., 2019). Because of this gap in representation, it remains unclear whether different factors may facilitate optimal life satisfaction for autistic persons with varying levels of support needs. For example, if unmet service needs are strongly associated with life satisfaction in autistic youth with ID, it becomes essential to identify ways to enhance services for this group to promote their well-being. Conversely, factors like self-determination or social participation—rather than support-related factors—may be more relevant for autistic youth without ID. This distinction can help guide targeted interventions to improve their life satisfaction.

The present study

The goal of this study was to investigate life satisfaction in a sample of autistic youth with and without ID who can self-report. To achieve this goal, this study aimed to (1) compare levels of self-reported life satisfaction in autistic youth with ID and without ID, (2) identify whether self-determination, social participation, parent stress, and unmet service needs are associated with self-reported life satisfaction for autistic youth with and without ID, and (3) conduct a preliminary investigation to explore whether the strength of associations differs across autistic youth with and without ID. Given conflicting findings in the existing research, no specific hypotheses were made about differences in levels of life satisfaction among autistic youth with and without ID. We hypothesized that, among autistic youth with ID, lower parent stress and fewer unmet service needs (i.e., indicators of support) would be associated with higher levels of self-reported life satisfaction. For autistic youth with and without ID, we hypothesized that more frequent social participation and higher self-determination would be associated with higher levels of self-reported life satisfaction.

Method

Participants

Participants were drawn from a multisite randomized controlled trial testing the effects of a parent advocacy intervention (Taylor et al., 2023). Eligibility criteria for the larger study were as follows: (1) parent or legal guardian of a 16–26-year-old with autism (in the current analysis all were parents apart from two who were grandparents [and legal guardians] of the youth); (2) documentation (medical, psychological, or educational) of the participant’s autism diagnosis with confirmation verified by meeting the lifetime cut-off on the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ; Rutter et al., 2003); and (3) parents lived in one of the states where the intervention took place and were able to attend the 12-week group program. Participants were recruited from three states across the United States (Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Illinois) through autism studies, research registries, disability agencies, school personnel, and autism support groups. To reach a variety of participants, recruitment methods included targeted emails, mailed letters, phone calls to families on research registries, and word of mouth. While parents were the target of recruitment for the larger study, both parents and youth participated in portions of the study.

Parent–youth dyads were included in this study if the youth participants completed a self-report survey measuring life satisfaction (n = 134 out of 185, or 72% of the larger sample). Eighteen percent (n = 34) of youth from the larger study were not able to complete the survey due to cognitive and communication impairments limiting their ability to self-report (as reported by parents or through direct observation). Eight percent (n = 15) of youth did not complete the survey for other reasons (e.g., chose not to participate in the survey portion of the study). Data from two participants were excluded because of concerns with data quality (one parent took the survey for the youth; one youth participant gave the same response for each item of all surveys in the study protocol). In the resulting sample of 134 youth participants and their parents, 35 youth had a co-occurring ID and 99 youth did not have a co-occurring ID. Autistic youth with ID had a mean full-scale IQ (FSIQ) of 67.19 (SD = 12.91) and a mean adaptive behavior score of 42.89 (SD = 15.59). Autistic youth without ID had a mean FSIQ of 98.98 (SD = 15.85) and a mean adaptive behavior score of 61.31 (SD = 16.24).¹ Demographic information for the sample is presented in Table 1. Differences in proxy-reported life satisfaction and demographic characteristics between autistic youth with ID and autistic youth who were unable to self-report are presented in Supplemental Materials.

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics.

	Total samplen = 134	Autistic youth with IDn = 35	Autistic youth without IDn = 99	Test of group differences^a (p)
Youth age M (SD)	19.77 (2.79)	19.45 (2.59)	19.88 (2.86)	0.418
Youth race % (n)				0.182
Asian	5% (7)	9% (3)	4% (4)
Black	9% (12)	14% (5)	7% (7)
White	73% (98)	71% (25)	74% (73)
Other	2% (3)	3% (1)	2% (2)
Mixed	11% (14)	3% (1)	13% (13)
Youth gender % (n)				0.620
Male	76% (102)	71% (25)	78% (77)
Female	23% (31)	29% (10)	21% (21)
Not sure/prefer not to respond	1% (1)	0% (0)	1% (1)
Parent age M (SD)	51.22 (6.60)	49.82 (6.39)	51.72 (6.63)	0.141
Parent education % (n)				0.320
High school or less	5% (7)	11% (4)	3% (3)
Some college	14% (19)	11% (4)	15% (15)
College degree	49% (65)	46% (16)	50% (49)
Graduate degree	32% (43)	32% (11)	32% (32)

All demographic information was reported by parents.

t-tests or Fisher’s exact tests were conducted.

Procedures

Written consent was obtained from all parents, and consent (if the youth was over the age of 18 and their own legal guardian) or assent was obtained from youth participants. Ethics approval was gained at all study sites (single IRB; Vanderbilt University Medical Center IRB of record approval number: 191187). Data for this study were collected from parents and youth at baseline, prior to receiving any intervention. Information from parents was obtained through online surveys and structured interviews (in-person in a university/clinic setting or via web-conferencing). Youth were given a survey in-person or at home via an online survey link. Assistance was provided by research staff or parents if needed (e.g., questions were read aloud to youth in an interview format).

Measures

Determination of co-occurring ID

ID was determined using relevant information obtained from the larger study protocol (also described in Taylor et al., 2023). All participants had the following information available: parent report of an ID diagnosis and the adaptive behavior composite standard score from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-III (VABS-III; Sparrow et al., 2016). The larger study also required documentation of an autism diagnosis, typically in the form of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or clinical/education records, that may have also included educational placement information, IQ scores, or ID diagnosis documentation. If the youth had graduated high school, the type of diploma they received was collected. While the larger study protocol included administration of the Weschler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence-II (WASI-II; Weschler, 2011) to estimate an FSIQ score, disruptions to the study due to the COVID-19 pandemic limited the ability to collect this information from 23 participants; thus, for 111 participants, IQ scores were also used to determine ID (using a score of approximately 70 as the cut-off for ID). There were nine cases (6.7% of the sample) where information relevant to an ID diagnosis was inconsistent (i.e., some information suggested an ID diagnosis and some information did not). For these cases, a case consensus procedure, including two PhD-level psychologists with extensive experience in intellectual and developmental disabilities, was conducted to determine ID status by weighing the strength of each piece of evidence and considering whether the preponderance of evidence supported a diagnosis of ID or not.

Youth life satisfaction

Life satisfaction was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985), a five-item survey. Each item was rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale, with a 1 indicating “strongly disagree” and a 7 signifying “strongly agree.” Total scores range from 5 to 35 and indicate the level of satisfaction as follows: Extremely dissatisfied (5–9), Dissatisfied (10–14), Slightly dissatisfied (15–19), Neutral (20), Slightly satisfied (21–25), Satisfied (26–30), and Extremely satisfied (31–35; Pavot & Diener, 2008). The SWLS is a well-validated and widely used instrument with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas > 0.83), test–retest reliability (rs > 0.82), and evidence of convergent validity (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot et al., 1991) and has been used in samples of autistic individuals who do not have ID (Beck et al., 2024; Casagrande et al., 2020; Griffiths et al., 2019; Grove et al., 2018; Mazurek, 2014; Tsermentseli, 2022). Although there is less research using the SWLS in individuals with ID, the few studies that have used self-reported scores in this group observed acceptable psychometrics (Cronbach’s alphas > 0.79; Lucas-Carrasco & Salvador-Carulla, 2012; Rey et al., 2013; Shogren et al., 2006).

The SWLS was given to the youth with the standard instructions and given to parents to obtain proxy-reported scores with instructions to “indicate what you think your son or daughter would respond to each statement.” Both parents and youth received the same statements, such as “In most ways, my life is close to ideal.”

Youth self-determination

The Self-Determination Inventory: Adult Report (SDI:AR; Shogren, Rifenbark, et al., 2021), a self-report survey, was used to measure self-determination. Items probe for the participant’s ability to make decisions and set and attain goals. Youth indicated their level of agreement with each statement using a sliding scale that is scored between 0 (representing disagreement) and 99 (representing agreement). An overall score was computed by averaging all items, with higher scores indicating higher self-determination. The SDI:AR is shown to be reliable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96) and demonstrates evidence of construct validity in those with and without ID (Shogren, Rifenbark, et al., 2021). Cronbach’s alpha for the current sample was 0.93. The SDI has been widely used with individuals with ID (Hagiwara et al., 2020, 2021; Shogren et al., 2018; Shogren, Rifenbark, et al., 2021; Shogren, Scott, et al., 2021).

Youth social participation

Information on participants’ social participation was obtained from parents using questions from the National Survey of Families and Households (Bumpass & Sweet, 1987), modified to be appropriate for adolescents and adults (Orsmond et al., 2004). The questions were completed in the form of a survey and indexed how often youth participated in different social (seven items) and recreational activities (three items) on a 5-point scale from 0 (less than yearly or never) to 4 (several times a week). A summed score of the seven items assessing social activities was used in the present study, with higher scores indicating more frequent social participation.

Parent stress

The stress scale of the short-form version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) was used to measure parent stress. Parents responded to items that probe for symptoms of stress over the past week, such as “during the past week, I found it difficult to relax,” using a 4-point Likert-type scale from 0 (“did not apply to me at all”) to 3 (“applied to me most of the time”). Higher scores indicate greater and more severe symptoms of stress. The short-form version of the DASS demonstrates excellent internal consistency (0.90–0.91) and evidence of construct validity (Antony et al., 1998; Henry & Crawford, 2005). Cronbach’s alpha for the current sample was 0.83.

Unmet service needs

Information regarding the number of unmet service needs was obtained from an interview with parents using a list of services derived from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 that has been frequently utilized in research with autistic youth (e.g., Lee et al., 2022; Shattuck et al., 2011). Parents were asked whether their child was currently receiving each of 21 different services (e.g., mental health, speech-language). If parents responded no, they were asked whether the service was needed. The count of needed services (possible range of 0–21) was used as a measure of unmet needs. We chose to focus on unmet service needs, as opposed to service receipt, because service receipt can be highly confounded with a person’s functional needs (e.g., individuals with more significant functional limitations are often eligible for more services; Burke et al., 2024).

Data analysis

Analyses were conducted using R software (R Core Team, 2023). First, a preliminary analysis was performed to examine the basic psychometric properties of the SWLS for autistic youth with ID and without ID. Internal consistency was used as a measure of reliability. Item-total correlations were also calculated and can be found in Supplemental Materials. Concurrent validity was assessed using Pearson correlations to test associations between self-reported and proxy-reported scores of the SWLS and by comparing mean levels of life satisfaction across reporters (i.e., self- versus proxy-report) using paired sample t-tests.

To address the first research question regarding group differences in mean levels of life satisfaction, a Welch’s t-test was conducted, which accounted for unequal variances across groups. To address the second research question, correlations were computed to detect bivariate associations between self-determination, social participation, parent stress, unmet service needs, and life satisfaction for autistic youth with ID and autistic youth without ID. Fisher’s z-tests were used to compare differences in the strength of correlations for autistic youth with and without ID. The Benjamin–Hochberg procedure was applied to the correlations and Fisher’s z-tests to control the false discovery rate. Given the difference in sample sizes for youth with and without ID, effect sizes were reported for the Fisher’s z-tests (q; with 0.10, 0.30, and 0.50, indicating a small, medium, and large effect, respectively; Cohen, 1988). Descriptive statistics of all independent variables can be found in Table 2.

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics of the independent variables.

	Total sampleM (SD)	Autistic youth with IDM (SD)	Autistic youth without IDM (SD)	t	p	d
Youth self-determination	72.50 (15.10)	74.91 (15.73)	71.65 (14.86)	−1.07	0.289	0.21
Parent stress	11.49 (7.40)	9.94 (7.19)	12.04 (7.43)	1.47	0.146	0.29
Youth social participation	8.18 (4.31)	9.26 (4.14)	7.80 (4.32)	−1.77	0.081	0.35
Youth unmet service needs	3.35 (2.51)	3.20 (2.97)	3.40 (2.34)	0.37	0.714	0.08

Results

Preliminary analysis

Internal consistency of the SWLS for autistic youth with ID was 0.72 and 0.87 for youth without ID. For autistic youth with and without ID, there were significant associations between proxy-reported and self-reported life satisfaction scores (r = 0.60, p < 0.001 for those with ID; r = 0.43, p < 0.001 for those without ID). Despite these moderate-to-strong correlations, autistic youth without ID reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than their parents (M = 24.11 for self-report, M = 20.05 for proxy-report; t(98) = 5.18, p < 0.001). Autistic youth with ID reported marginally higher levels of life satisfaction than their parents (M = 26.23 for self-report, M = 24.37 for proxy-report; t(34) = 1.88, p = 0.069).

Self-reported levels of life satisfaction of autistic youth with ID and without ID

A marginal difference in the mean level of self-reported life satisfaction was detected between youth with and without ID, t(79.59) = 1.84, p = 0.070, d = 0.34, such that autistic youth with ID reported slightly higher levels of life satisfaction compared to autistic youth without ID. We also examined whether there was a difference in life satisfaction across the groups while controlling for age and gender, and the findings were consistent, F(1,129) = 2.81, p = 0.096. To contextualize the findings, we examined the percentage of each group whose scores fell into each category of life satisfaction (see Methods), which can be found in Table 3. Sixty-five percent of autistic youth with ID and 50% of autistic youth without ID reported they were “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with their life. In contrast, 3% of autistic youth with ID and 12% of youth without ID were “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied” with their life.

Table 3.

Percentages and frequencies for each level of life satisfaction.

SWLS category	Total sample	Autistic youth with ID	Autistic youth without ID
Extremely dissatisfied	2% (3)	3% (1)	2% (2)
Dissatisfied	8% (10)	0% (0)	10% (10)
Slightly dissatisfied	12% (16)	6% (2)	14% (14)
Neutral	5% (7)	6% (2)	5% (5)
Slightly satisfied	19% (26)	20% (7)	19% (19)
Satisfied	37% (49)	51% (18)	32% (31)
Extremely satisfied	17% (23)	14% (5)	18% (18)

Correlates of self-reported life satisfaction in autistic transition-aged youth

Table 4 presents the correlations between self-reported life satisfaction and self-determination, social participation, parent stress, and unmet service needs stratified by those with and without ID, along with Fisher’s z-tests examining differences in associations across the groups. More frequent social participation, lower parent stress, and fewer unmet service needs were associated with higher self-reported life satisfaction for autistic youth with ID. Higher self-reported life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater self-determination for autistic youth without ID. The correlations between self-reported life satisfaction and parent stress, as well as self-reported life satisfaction and unmet service needs, were significantly stronger for autistic youth with ID than youth without ID, showing a large effect size in both instances.

Table 4.

Correlates of life satisfaction.

	Autistic youth with ID	Autistic youth without ID	Fisher’s z-test	Cohen’s q
	Self-reported life satisfactionn = 35	Self-reportedlife satisfactionn = 99
Youth self-determination	0.26	0.57***	1.87	0.38
Youth social participation	0.40*	0.16	−1.29	0.26
Parent stress	−0.53**	−0.08	2.50*	0.51
Youth unmet service needs	−0.61***	−0.12	2.88*	0.59

q = 0.10, 0.30, and 0.50 are considered small, medium, and large effects, respectively (Cohen, 1988).

p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

To evaluate whether assistance with the surveys affected the results, we re-ran the analyses excluding the four participants in which it was noted that assistance was given. The patterns of results remained the same, suggesting that the use of parent support did not unduly influence the study findings.

Discussion

This study explored self-reported life satisfaction in autistic youth with ID (who were able to self-report) and autistic youth without ID. Findings indicated that autistic youth with ID had marginally higher levels of life satisfaction than autistic youth without ID. As one of the first (to our knowledge) to examine self-reported life satisfaction among autistic individuals with co-occurring ID, this study contributes to our understanding of the subjective well-being of autistic individuals across a wider range of the spectrum than those typically included in life satisfaction research. However, it is important to note that our sample of autistic youth with ID only included those who were capable of self-reporting, and thus it likely lacks representation of individuals with severe to profound ID. Understanding how to improve life satisfaction or other indicators of subjective well-being among those who are unable to self-report is a significant gap in the existing literature and an important area for future research.

Approximately half (54%) of autistic participants in the sample reported feeling “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with their lives. Reports of dissatisfaction with life were relatively rare (10%) but were almost exclusively endorsed by autistic youth without ID. We observed a trend suggesting that autistic youth without ID report slightly lower mean levels of life satisfaction than autistic youth with ID, though this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.070) and the effect size was small (d = 0.34). Further research with a larger sample of autistic individuals with ID is needed to determine if the pattern of findings observed in our research strengthens or weakens when investigated in a fully powered study. Though preliminary, our findings align with other studies suggesting a potential disadvantage in subjective outcomes for autistic individuals without ID relative to those with ID, with perhaps the most evidence for higher rates of depressive symptoms in this group (Hollocks et al., 2019; Hudson et al., 2019). Given that autistic youth without ID are often advantaged relative to those with ID when objective outcomes are assessed (Mason et al., 2021), it is essential to continue to investigate both objective and subjective outcomes to gain a more comprehensive picture of the needs of all autistic transition-aged youth.

Our analyses examining correlates of life satisfaction provided preliminary evidence for unique associations for autistic youth with and without ID. Both parent stress and unmet services needs were more strongly associated with life satisfaction for autistic youth with ID compared to autistic youth without ID, with a large effect size for these differences in associations. The well-being of parents and access to services have been linked to the achievement of objective outcomes (Alverson & Yamamoto, 2017; Roux et al., 2021; Taylor & DaWalt, 2017), and our results suggest that these could be important for promoting the subjective well-being of autistic youth with ID as well. It may be that evidence-based treatments aimed at reducing parent stress (such as Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support; Singh et al., 2021) could also be effective at improving life satisfaction for autistic adults with ID. To test this hypothesis, research on parent stress interventions among families of autistic adults with ID is needed. In addition, this study underscores the critical role of disability services, a system that is underfunded and difficult to navigate (Burns et al., 2024; Codd & Hewitt, 2021). Overall, our findings suggest that informal and formal supports may play a crucial role in the well-being of autistic youth with ID, but future longitudinal research with larger samples is needed to confirm these findings and determine the direction of the effects.

More frequent social participation was also associated with higher levels of self-reported life satisfaction among autistic youth with ID. This finding is consistent with a previous study demonstrating that more social participation was associated with better parent-reported psychological quality of life in autistic youth with low IQ (Taylor et al., 2024). Though the correlation between social participation and life satisfaction was between a medium and large effect size for those with ID, for those without ID, the correlation between social participation and life satisfaction was a small effect (though the difference in the strength of associations between these groups was not statistically significant, possibly due to the small sample size of those with ID). The weak association between social participation and life satisfaction among those without ID was surprising, as previous research has demonstrated this link in autistic people with average-to-above-average IQs (Bailey et al., 2020; Schmidt et al., 2015). One way to understand this discrepancy is by considering a bottom-up theoretical perspective on the connection between leisure (including social activities) and subjective well-being, which posits that satisfaction with participation, rather than objective engagement in participation, is most proximally related to subjective well-being (Kuykendall et al., 2018). Burgeoning research in autistic samples supports this perspective, finding that levels of social participation that meet a person’s needs may be more important to well-being than the amount of participation itself (Adams et al., 2024; Taylor et al., 2024). Therefore, research aimed at understanding social participation should consider subjective aspects of participation in addition to frequency.

Consistent with prior research (White et al., 2018), self-determination was related to life satisfaction for autistic youth without ID, with a large effect size. Promoting a sense of personal agency may enable autistic youth without ID to take charge of their own lives and, in turn, increase overall well-being. Despite autistic individuals demonstrating low levels of self-determination on average (Chou et al., 2017; Qian et al., 2022), there are few interventions specifically designed to enhance self-determination for autistic individuals, and increased methodological rigor of such interventions is needed (Morán et al., 2021). We did not detect a significant association between self-determination and life satisfaction for autistic youth with ID. This should not be taken as definitive evidence that self-determination is not important to well-being, as the limited sample size of autistic youth with ID restricts the extent to which we can interpret null findings. In fact, the association between self-determination and life satisfaction in this group approached a medium effect size (though not statistically significant), and we did not detect a significant difference in the strength of associations between those with and without ID. Investigations with well-powered samples of autistic individuals with ID are needed to understand whether self-determination is associated with life satisfaction in this group and thus would be a reasonable target to improve their subjective well-being.

There are several notable limitations of this study. First, due to cognitive and communication impairments, 18% of participants in the larger study were unable to report on their experiences. This suggests that the procedures were not inclusive enough to allow for reporters of all functioning levels to voice their perspectives, and findings from our sample of autistic youth with ID should only be generalized to those who are able to self-report. Future work should consider alternative ways to include those who have severe and profound support needs, like using photovoice or developing other, more accessible measures of life satisfaction that can be reliably employed in this group.

In addition, our sample came from a larger study focused on families interested in a parent advocacy program who had the time and resources to attend a 12-week program; participants were also generally highly educated, and the diversity of race was limited. Thus, these findings may not generalize to all families of autistic youth. As previously mentioned, the sample size was small for youth with ID; our findings related to this group should be considered preliminary. Further studies with larger samples of autistic youth with ID are needed to provide more definitive evidence for the potential contributors to life satisfaction in this group. Finally, though our basic psychometric analyses suggested that the SWLS performed well among autistic youth with and without ID, this measure was not created to assess the life satisfaction of autistic people specifically. Recent work has recommended that measures of well-being should be determined by autistic people themselves to ensure outcome measures are truly meaningful for this population (Lam et al., 2021; Simpson et al., 2024).

These limitations are offset by some notable strengths. First, although the primary outcome was self-report, nearly all independent variables were informant-report, reducing the likelihood of inflated associations with life satisfaction due to having one single rater. This stands in contrast to much of the extant work examining factors that predict subjective well-being, which use one single data source (e.g., only self-report; only informant-report). Another strength is that the study was designed—through choice of measures and availability of accommodations—to allow the inclusion of autistic youth with ID and facilitate the collection of self-report data from as many youth as possible. Despite the small sample size, this is the first study, to our knowledge, that has examined self-reported life satisfaction in a sample of autistic youth with ID. We were able to use the SWLS with autistic youth with ID who can self-report and found acceptable internal consistency, suggesting it may be a promising tool to use with this group. Including autistic youth with ID in our sample uncovered relations between multiple aspects of support and life satisfaction—associations that have not been found in extant studies that only included those without ID. Though preliminary, our findings provide an important rationale for future, fully powered studies focused on ways to improve subjective well-being among autistic youth with ID.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-aut-10.1177_13623613251327347 – Supplemental material for Correlates of self-reported life satisfaction among autistic youth with and without intellectual disability

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-aut-10.1177_13623613251327347 for Correlates of self-reported life satisfaction among autistic youth with and without intellectual disability by Carly Moser, Leann Smith DaWalt, Meghan M Burke and Julie Lounds Taylor in Autism

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the families who participated in the study and the project staff who carried out data collection.

Author’s note

Meghan Burke was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the time of data collection.

Author contributions

Carly Moser: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing—original draft; Writing—review & editing. Leann Smith DaWalt: Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Supervision; Writing—review & editing. Meghan M Burke: Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Supervision; Writing—review & editing. Julie Lounds Taylor: Funding acquisition; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Supervision; Writing—review & editing.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH116058, PI: Taylor), with core support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P50 HD103537, PI: Neul; P50 HD105353, PI: Chang), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR000445), and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

ORCID iDs

Carly Moser

Leann Smith DaWalt

Meghan M Burke

Julie Lounds Taylor

Supplemental material

Supplemental materials for this article are available online.

Notes

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