Abstract
Past research suggests that stress and anxiety are more prevalent in persons with autism as compared to typically developing persons. The Stress Survey Schedule (SSS) was developed in 2001 as a means to measure stressors common to persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The present study compared SSS responses of a sample of students diagnosed with ASD and intellectual disability with a group of typically developing students to explore the divergent validity and internal consistency of this measure, and to assess changes in scores among pre-adolescent and adolescent populations. Results indicated significant mean differences in SSS scores between persons with ASD and persons who are typically developing, and mean score differences among identified ASD age groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bishop-Fitzpatrick, L., Mazefsky, C. A., Minshew, N. J., & Eack, S. M. (2014). The relationship between stress and social functioning in adults with autism spectrum disorder and without intellectual disability. Autism Research, 8(2), 154–163.https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1433.
Bishop-Fitzpatrick, L., Minshew, N. J., Mazefsky, C. A., & Eack, S. M. (2017). Perception of life as stressful, not biological response to stress, is associated with greater social disability in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2910-6.
Cautela, J. R. (1973). Covert processes and behavioral modification. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 157, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-197307000-00004.
Corbett, B. A., Schupp, C. W., & Lanni, K. E. (2012). Comparing biobehavioral profiles across two social stress paradigms in children with and without autism spectrum disorders. Molecular Autism, 3, 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/2040-2392-3-13.
Frith, U. (2012). Why we need cognitive explanations of autism. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(11), 2073–2092. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.697178.
Goodwin, M. S., Groden, J., Velicer, W. F., & Diller, A. (2007). Validating the stress survey schedule for persons with autism and other developmental disabilities. Focus on Autism, 22(3), 183–189.
Groden, J., Cautela, J., Prince, S., & Berryman, J. (1994). The impacts of stress and anxiety on individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), Behavioral issues in autism (pp. 177–194). New York: Plenum Press.
Groden, J., Diller, A., Bausman, M., Velicer, W., Norman, G., & Cautela, J. (2001). The development of a stress survey schedule for persons with autism and other developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(2), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010755300436.
Groden, J., Goodwin, M. S., Baron, M. G., Groden, G., Velicer, W. F., Lipsitt, L. P., et al. (2005). Assessing cardiovascular responses to stressors in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 20(4), 244–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/10883576050200040601.
Happe, F., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2006). Time to give up on a single explanation of autism. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1218–1220. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1770.
Hollocks, M. J., Howlin, P., Papadopoulos, A. S., Khondoker, M., & Simonoff, E. (2014). Differences in HPA-axis and heart rate responsiveness to psychosocial stress in children with autism spectrum disorders with and without co-morbid anxiety. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 46, 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.04.004.
Hsiao, Y. (2018). Autism spectrum disorders: Family demographics, parental stress and family quality of life. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12232.
Levine, T. P., Sheinkopf, S. J., Pescosolido, M., Rodino, A., Elia, G., & Lester, B. (2012). Physiologic arousal to social stress in children with autism spectrum disorders: A pilotstudy. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6, 177–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2011.04.003.
Maenner, M. J., Shaw, K. A., Baio, J., Washington, A., Patrick, M., DiRienzo, M., Dietz, PM. et al. (2020) Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years –autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2016. MMWR Surveillance summaries, 69(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6904a1.
Shawler, P. M., & Sullivan, M. A. (2017). Parental stress, discipline strategies, and child behavior problems in families with young children with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 32(2), 142–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357615610114.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our thanks to Kyle Van Den Berghe and Sutton Middle School in Sutton, Massachusetts, for providing our control group of participants. We would also like to thank Dr. June Groden for extending the time and resources of the staff at the Groden Center to be able to make important academic contributions to the field, such as the present research study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
JG conceived the study, provided technical assistance with the SSS, and contributed to the manuscript. CRW coordinated the study, collected data, created the design of analyses, and drafted the manuscript, as well as revised the manuscript according to the reviewers’ comments. CH collected and compiled data, completed the data analyses, and co-drafted the manuscript. KA compiled early data collection, and began research in this area of inquiry.
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Woodard, C.R., Harmony, C., Groden, J. et al. A Comparison of the Stress Survey Schedule in Children with Autism and Typically Developing Children: A Brief Report. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 1375–1384 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04616-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04616-y