Happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality in children with and without autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from a UK population cohort study.
Almost half of autistic 11-year-olds in the UK already display high happiness, self-esteem, and prosocial behavior, so start intervention planning with a strengths lens.
01Research in Context
What this study did
King et al. (2018) looked at happiness, self-esteem, and prosocial acts in 11-year-olds across the UK. They used a big population sample that included both kids with autism and kids without autism.
The team ran a latent class analysis. This is a stats tool that groups children into hidden profiles based on how they score on all three strengths together.
What they found
Five clear kid profiles popped out. The best one had high happiness, high self-esteem, and lots of prosocial acts.
Thirty-one percent of autistic children landed in that best profile, compared with sixty-two percent of non-autistic children. Still, almost half of the autistic group showed strong positive functioning.
How this fits with other research
Zhao et al. (2019) seems to disagree. They found that higher autistic traits predict lower prosocial behavior in typical adults. The clash fades when you see they studied traits in adults, while Gillan studied diagnosed children. Kids in a strengths-based profile can still show plenty of prosocial acts.
Voss et al. (2019) extend the happiness theme. Parents across the lifespan say their top hope is simply that their child is happy. Gillan gives numbers that back up parents’ wish: happiness is possible for many autistic children.
Deserno et al. (2017) add mechanism. Their network study of over two thousand autistic people shows social satisfaction and feeling useful are the core drivers of well-being. Gillan’s prosocial profile likely taps the same drivers, just measured in kids.
Why it matters
If you write treatment goals, start with strengths. Nearly half of autistic 11-year-olds already show high happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality. Build on those assets instead of only chasing deficit reduction. Ask kids how happy they feel and note when they help others. These quick strength checks can guide where you place teaching time and when to celebrate.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: High levels of childhood happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality are associated with positive social and emotional outcomes. Little is known about whether these constructs co-occur and how levels of co-occurrence are different in children with or without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Data was obtained from 13,285 11-year olds (408 with ASD) from a UK based prospective cohort study. Latent class analysis revealed five distinct classes: The "very low prosociality class" (with ASD 32% vs. without ASD 7%) was characterized by children who were happy and had high self-esteem but they were not prosocial. The "low happiness class" (with ASD 3% vs. without ASD 3%), included those children who had moderate self-esteem and were prosocial but were the least happy. Children in the "low to moderate positive functioning class" (with ASD 16% vs. without ASD 6%) were moderately happy and had the lowest self-esteem but were prosocial. The "moderate to high positive functioning class" (with ASD 17% vs. without ASD 23%) was characterized by children who were happy, had moderate self-esteem, and were very prosocial. The majority of children were in the "optimum class" (with ASD 31% vs. without ASD 62%), and were very happy, very prosocial with high self-esteem. Our findings demonstrate that for the majority of children in our sample, happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality co-occur. Furthermore, although as a group children with ASD have lower levels of positive functioning, our multivariable latent class approach suggests that nearly half of children with ASD are happy, have good levels self-esteem, and are prosocial. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1011-1023. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: High levels of childhood happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality are associated with positive social and emotional outcomes. In this study, we investigated whether happiness, self-esteem and prosociality co-occur in children, and how possible co-occurrence differs between those with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. We found that for the majority of children happiness, self-esteem, and prosociality co-occur. Furthermore, although as a group children with ASD have lower levels of positive functioning, our findings suggest that nearly half of children with ASD are happy, have good levels of self-esteem, and are prosocial.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.1957