# A Mixed Methods Examination of Mechanisms Underlying Sociodemographic Disparities Over the Transition to Adulthood Among Youth on the Autism Spectrum

> **NIH NIH F31** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS) · 2021 · $34,324

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Approximately 500,000 youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will age into adulthood over the next
decade. Transition to adulthood is a vulnerable time for youth on the autism spectrum due to fragmented
systems of care coupled with ASD-related deficits in social communication and adaptive behavior. Youth who
are disconnected from education or employment after high school graduation are at increased risk for poorer
outcomes across the lifespan, such as poverty and mental health problems. Results from a recent systematic
literature review revealed that low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth on the autism spectrum are twice as
likely to be disconnected from education or employment after high school as their White and higher-income
peers. As transition to adulthood is a critical period for setting up trajectories of adult functioning, this finding
suggests that ASD disparities are likely to intensify over the transition to adulthood and perpetuate trajectories
of poorer functioning across the lifespan for racial/ethnic minority or low-income youth on the autism spectrum.
Conceptual frameworks for health disparities research suggest a three-phase model for addressing health
disparities that includes detection of disparities, understanding why disparities exist, and development and
evaluation of interventions to reduce disparities. While researchers have begun to document disparities over
transition to adulthood in ASD, only one study to date has examined mechanisms linking sociodemographic
factors to poorer transition-related outcomes. A next step toward a deeper understanding of mechanisms of
disparities is often to employ mixed methods research. In mixed methods studies, qualitative research serves
to contextualize quantitative findings and deepen our understanding of the processes underlying disparities.
Accordingly, in this application, I propose a mixed methods study to investigate mechanisms of race/ethnicity-
and income-based disparities over the transition to adulthood among youth on the autism spectrum.
Mechanisms of disparities will be explored by (1) quantitatively examining mediators of disconnection from
employment or education after high school, and (2) qualitatively characterizing barriers to effective transition to
adulthood and ideas to ameliorate those barriers from the perspective of diverse adolescents and young adults
on the autism spectrum and their families. The proposed research implements a community-based design in
which a community advisory board of key stakeholders will actively shape all stages of the research. This
collaboration will increase the relevance of findings and the feasibility of intervention recommendations.
Ultimately, the results from this mixed methods study will inform the processes underlying sociodemographic
disparities in disconnection among adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum and inform future
clinical applications. This proposal closely aligns with NIH ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10151772
- **Project number:** 1F31MH123079-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS)
- **Principal Investigator:** Jenna Eilenberg
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $34,324
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-03-01 → 2024-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10151772

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10151772, A Mixed Methods Examination of Mechanisms Underlying Sociodemographic Disparities Over the Transition to Adulthood Among Youth on the Autism Spectrum (1F31MH123079-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10151772. Licensed CC0.

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