Peer Victimization and Educational Outcomes in Mainstreamed Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

The majority of adolescents with ASD spend a significant amount of the school day in general education settings; yet, many of these students exhibit problems at school. The current manuscript examined whether specific types of peer victimization were associated with a range of educational outcomes. Participants from study 1 included parents of 1221 adolescents from the Interactive Autism Network. Study 2 included 54 adolescent males and one of their parents that were recruited from a clinic registry. Both studies found that all types of victimization were associated with educational outcomes. These findings indicate that, in addition to improving overall well-being of students with ASD, reducing peer victimization could have positive effects on educational performance of these students.