Aging and autism: Do measures of autism symptoms, co-occurring mental health conditions, or quality of life differ between younger and older autistic adults?
Older autistic adults feel better about their social lives than younger ones, but every autistic adult still faces more mental-health strain than non-autistic peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Yarar et al. (2022) compared 88 autistic adults to 91 non-autistic adults. Ages ranged from 18 to 65.
Everyone filled out forms about autism traits, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. The team then split the autistic group into younger (18-39) and older (40-65) adults to look for age gaps.
What they found
Autistic adults reported more mental-health symptoms and lower life satisfaction than non-autistic peers at every age.
Younger autistic adults scored higher on clinical anxiety, somatic, and eating concerns. They also rated their social quality of life lower than the older autistic group.
How this fits with other research
Parsons et al. (2019) mapped physical conditions in autistic adults 40-88 and found high rates of epilepsy, sleep, and heart problems. Zıvralı adds that, even with those issues, older autistic adults feel better about their social lives than younger ones.
Shyu et al. (2026) showed that social anxiety and low social confidence drag down quality of life in autistic teens. The same pattern seems to linger into young adulthood, supporting the new age-gap finding.
Finke et al. (2017) looks like a contradiction: it found younger autistic adults feel more satisfied with healthcare, while Zıvralı finds they feel worse socially. The difference is domain—healthcare versus friendships—so both can be true.
Leader et al. (2021) linked poor sleep and stomach pain to low quality of life in autistic adults. Zıvralı keeps those health factors in view but shows age itself also shapes how life feels.
Why it matters
If you serve autistic adults, do not assume everyone experiences life the same way. Younger clients may need extra social-skills or anxiety work even if their health is stable. Older clients may report better social satisfaction yet still carry heavy medical loads. Add age-specific questions to your intake and adjust treatment targets accordingly.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Previous research has indicated that autistic adults experience higher rates of co-occurring mental health difficulties and poorer quality of life (QoL) than their non-autistic peers. Little is known, however, about these aspects in older age or whether younger and older autistic adults experience similar patterns This cross-sectional study investigated potential age-related effects on autism symptoms, self-reported mental health, and QoL in younger and older autistic adults (n = 79, aged 19-71 years) compared to a non-autistic control group (n = 57) matched for gender, age and IQ. Results showed that autistic adults had higher levels of self-reported autism symptoms and poorer QoL than controls. There were no significant age effects on autism symptoms or on most self-rated mental health symptoms. However, significantly more autistic adults in the younger versus older group scored above the clinical threshold for anxiety, somatoform disorders and eating disorders. Older autistic adults rated social QoL as significantly better than younger autistic adults; there was no significant age difference in the control group. Self-reported QoL was best predicted by self-ratings of severity of depressive symptoms in both groups. Further research is needed to track autism and co-occurring mental health symptomatology across the lifespan, so that service provision can be tailored accordingly. LAY SUMMARY: Young autistic adults have reported more psychological difficulties and poorer quality of life (QoL) than the general population. We investigated whether these difficulties continue into older age. Autism symptoms and mental health problems were common in autistic adults, with no difference between age groups, except for anxiety, physical and eating problems. Although QoL was poorer in both younger and older autistic compared to non-autistic adults, older autistic adults reported better social QoL than those who were younger.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1002/aur.2780