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Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers

Driving is central to adult independence and autonomy; yet most autistic young adults do not acquire driver’s licenses. It is important to understand barriers to achieving this milestone for autistic adults. Differences in negative affect and emotion dysregulation associated with autism may interfer...

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Autores principales: Fok, Megan, Owens, Justin M., Ollendick, Thomas H., Scarpa, Angela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8841684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35173658
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.754776
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author Fok, Megan
Owens, Justin M.
Ollendick, Thomas H.
Scarpa, Angela
author_facet Fok, Megan
Owens, Justin M.
Ollendick, Thomas H.
Scarpa, Angela
author_sort Fok, Megan
collection PubMed
description Driving is central to adult independence and autonomy; yet most autistic young adults do not acquire driver’s licenses. It is important to understand barriers to achieving this milestone for autistic adults. Differences in negative affect and emotion dysregulation associated with autism may interfere with managing difficult driving situations. The current study compared perceived driving difficulty (DD), emotion dysregulation, and negative affect in emerging drivers with and without autistic traits (AT), and investigated how emotion dysregulation and negative affect relate to perceived DD. We expected (1) greater perceived DD, emotion dysregulation, and negative affect in participants with AT and (2) a positive correlation of perceived DD with both emotion dysregulation and negative affect in the whole sample. Thirty-seven adolescents and young adults (15 AT) self-reported perceived DD in 15 scenarios and completed the Difficulty in Emotion Dysregulation Scale (DERS) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS). Autistic participants scored significantly higher on mean perceived DD, DERS Impulse subscale, DASS total and DASS Stress subscale scores. Perceived DD positively correlated with the DERS and DASS total scores, all DASS subscales, and DERS Nonacceptance, Goals, and Impulse subscales across the whole sample. The findings highlight the roles of emotion dysregulation and negative affect in perceived DD in emerging drivers with AT. In particular, emotional stress and impulsivity may map onto mechanisms of over-reactivity to negative affect and explain why autistic people perceive particular situations as difficult when driving. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-88416842022-02-15 Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers Fok, Megan Owens, Justin M. Ollendick, Thomas H. Scarpa, Angela Front Psychol Psychology Driving is central to adult independence and autonomy; yet most autistic young adults do not acquire driver’s licenses. It is important to understand barriers to achieving this milestone for autistic adults. Differences in negative affect and emotion dysregulation associated with autism may interfere with managing difficult driving situations. The current study compared perceived driving difficulty (DD), emotion dysregulation, and negative affect in emerging drivers with and without autistic traits (AT), and investigated how emotion dysregulation and negative affect relate to perceived DD. We expected (1) greater perceived DD, emotion dysregulation, and negative affect in participants with AT and (2) a positive correlation of perceived DD with both emotion dysregulation and negative affect in the whole sample. Thirty-seven adolescents and young adults (15 AT) self-reported perceived DD in 15 scenarios and completed the Difficulty in Emotion Dysregulation Scale (DERS) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS). Autistic participants scored significantly higher on mean perceived DD, DERS Impulse subscale, DASS total and DASS Stress subscale scores. Perceived DD positively correlated with the DERS and DASS total scores, all DASS subscales, and DERS Nonacceptance, Goals, and Impulse subscales across the whole sample. The findings highlight the roles of emotion dysregulation and negative affect in perceived DD in emerging drivers with AT. In particular, emotional stress and impulsivity may map onto mechanisms of over-reactivity to negative affect and explain why autistic people perceive particular situations as difficult when driving. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8841684/ /pubmed/35173658 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.754776 Text en Copyright © 2022 Fok, Owens, Ollendick and Scarpa. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Fok, Megan
Owens, Justin M.
Ollendick, Thomas H.
Scarpa, Angela
Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title_full Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title_fullStr Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title_full_unstemmed Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title_short Perceived Driving Difficulty, Negative Affect, and Emotion Dysregulation in Self-Identified Autistic Emerging Drivers
title_sort perceived driving difficulty, negative affect, and emotion dysregulation in self-identified autistic emerging drivers
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8841684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35173658
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.754776
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