'I definitely feel more in control of my life': The perspectives of young autistic people and their parents on emerging adulthood.
Autistic young adults feel more in control when we build executive skills and trust, not when we push typical milestones.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cribb et al. (2019) interviewed 14 autistic young adults and 14 parents in the United Kingdom. All young adults were cognitively able and .
The team asked open questions about daily life, identity, and future plans. They also asked parents how they saw their child's progress.
What they found
Most young adults said, 'I feel more in control now.' They talked about learning to plan meals, handle money, and choose friends.
Parents agreed their kids had grown, but they worried aloud: 'After school there are no services.' Both groups said trusting relationships mattered more than hitting typical milestones like moving out fast.
How this fits with other research
Oredipe et al. (2023) extends this story. Their survey of autistic university students shows that learning one's diagnosis before age 12 predicts higher life satisfaction today. Together the studies say: give kids both early truth and adult room to grow.
Green et al. (2020) seems to disagree. Their survey found low self-determination capacity in young adults with ASD. The gap closes when you see their sample included people with intellectual disability, while Serena's did not. Same age, different support needs.
Coutelle et al. (2020) adds a cognitive lens. Autistic adults without ID show fuzzier self-concept than peers. Serena's interviews echo this: identity work is still happening at 22, not finished at 18.
Why it matters
Stop rushing emerging adults into 'normal' steps like solo living or full-time work. Instead, target executive skills—budgeting, scheduling, self-advocacy—within relationships the client trusts. Use the young adult's own words to set goals and celebrate small wins that feel meaningful to them, not to us.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Long-term outcomes studies often paint a discouraging picture of the lives lived by autistic adults. Yet, their outcomes are often measured against normative markers of traditional adult roles, which may not apply to autistic people making the transition to adulthood. Here, we investigated the transition experiences of a group of young autistic people who were followed from childhood. Twenty-six young people and their parents (n = 28) participated in semistructured interviews on the process of transition and their aspirations for the future. Parents often voiced serious concerns about the ongoing support their children would require and the severe lack of services designed to support them as adults. Yet, overall, young people reported feeling more in control of their own lives, including developing a sense of identity and personal autonomy, both of which may be rooted in young autistic people's executive skills and their ability to develop and maintain trusting relationships with others - two potential candidate areas for targeted support. These results call into question whether the traditional standards to which we often hold young autistic people are developmentally appropriate and suggest that the pressures of striving towards more normative ways of engaging in the world may be detrimental to their well-being.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2019 · doi:10.1177/1362361319830029