Predictors of Sleep Quality for Autistic People across Adulthood

Poor sleep can have a significant impact on physical health and well-being. Sleep problems are common among autistic children, but less is known about sleep across the autistic adult lifespan. Autistic adults (n=730, aged 18-78 years) were recruited via Simons Powering Autism Research (SPARK) Research Match. Participants completed online surveys asking about demographics, health problems, social support, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and overall and specific aspects of sleep quality. Regression analyses explored the variables associated with sleep quality. Physical health, assigned female sex at birth and self-reported anxiety symptoms significantly contributed to models for all aspects of sleep. Perceived stress contributed to models of overall and subjective sleep quality, and daytime dysfunction. Depression symptoms did not contribute significantly to any of the models of sleep quality. However, utilising government support mechanisms (such as social security) contributed to the model of sleep efficiency. Age contributed little to models of sleep quality, whereas perceived stress and psychotropic medication use contributed to some but not all aspects of sleep. Sleep quality is poor for autistic people across the adult lifespan. Given known impacts of poor sleep on health, cognition and quality of life, attention should be paid to sleep and its possible everyday effects for autistic people of all ages.