The role of mentorship on social engagement among adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Abstract Background One primary component of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulty with social communication and interaction. These challenges may impede upon postsecondary education and/or employment outcomes of young adults with ASD. Prior to the postsecondary transition, programming for adolescents mainly focuses on social skills training, although there are limitations in the generalizability of skills. Emerging work is beginning to explore the use of peer and adult mentors in benefiting social functioning among adolescents with ASD. Despite the benefits of adult mentorship among other populations, limited work has been conducted with students with ASD. Method This study utilized National Survey of Children’s Health data on 27,417 adolescents with an assessed diagnosis of ASD. The data also accounted for the presence of adult mentorship, and the level of social engagement. The current study sought to examine the moderating role of adult mentorship in the association between ASD status and social engagement. Results As expected, adolescents with ASD had significantly lower levels of social engagement compared to peers. Adult mentorship was found to moderate the association between ASD status and social engagement when controlling for the adolescent’s age, ASD severity, family income level, presence of intellectual disability, and sex. Importantly, adolescents with ASD who had an adult mentor demonstrated a level of social engagement higher than their non-mentored typically-developing peers. Conclusions Findings support the implementation of formal adult mentors to facilitate improvements in social functioning prior to the postsecondary transition.