Facing Stress: Coping Strategies, Resilience and Mental Health Outcomes in Autistic Adults

There is consensus surrounding the poor mental health outcomes experienced by many in the Autistic adult population. While the non-autistic literature suggests that high stress represents a key contributor to poor mental health and well-being, individual resources such as coping and resilience have the potential to mitigate the negative effects of stress, accounting for individual differences across mental health outcomes. Despite emerging research showing high stress in Autistic adults, investigations of coping and resilience in this population remain limited. In this seminar, Melanie will discuss the research conducted as part of her PhD, where she examined coping strategies and resilience, and their associations with stress, mental health and well-being in Autistic adults. A broader synthesis of the research findings will be presented, followed by a discussion on potential future empirical and clinical directions in the field.