How satisfied are autistic adults in their jobs, and what factors predict their job satisfaction?
(Photo provided by Naomi Levins)
“The findings of this study suggest that participants were “undecided” about how satisfied they were with their jobs. Greater job satisfaction was linked to greater communication, perceived organizational support, person-environment fit, and employment self-efficacy.” ~Naomi Levins
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*In the following article, TS refers to The Synapse and NL refers to Naomi Levins;
TS: Could you briefly introduce yourself, your supervisor, the topic of your research, and the field it contributes to?
NL: I'm Naomi Levins, a third-year student majoring in Arts in Psychology. Dr. Barbara D'Entremont was my supervisor for my Basic Research and our topic of research was job satisfaction in autistic adults. This study addressed the gaps in autism literature, specifically autism in adulthood.
TS: What was your research project and your contributions? What drew you to pursuing this project?
NL: Previous research has shown that, in the general population, job satisfaction is linked to mental and physical health and overall life satisfaction. However, no research has examined job satisfaction in autistic adults. Hence, our research aimed to examine factors that might predict autistic adults' job satisfaction. Using the socio-cognitive model, we tested individual characteristics, working conditions, and employment self-efficacy as predictors of job satisfaction through an online survey. 242 participants completed the survey.
The findings of this study suggest that participants were “undecided” about how satisfied they were with their jobs. Greater job satisfaction was linked to greater communication, perceived organizational support, person-environment fit, and employment self-efficacy. These findings provide insights into possible ways to improve the job satisfaction and well-being of autistic adults.
My main task in this research was to assist Dr. D'Entremont in the manuscript completion, which involved writing, APA formatting, and literature search. The reason I wanted to work with Dr. D'Entremont is because I'm interested in child psychology. Although this study focused on adults, autism is a disorder that is commonly diagnosed in childhood. This project has given me an opportunity to learn more about autism in general.
TS: Are there any future studies that will be conducted based on your project?
NL: As I helped Dr D'Entremont gather newly published papers about factors that challenge and facilitate autistic adults' work life and job satisfaction, I noticed that the literature in this area is expanding slowly. Hence, I think there will be more future studies that will be conducted based on this project.
TS: Why did you choose to take the basic research course? To what extent did the research experience align with what you’d expected (amount of work, depth of research question pursued, tasks completed, etc)?
NL: I chose basic research because I wanted to experience what research is really like, and to explore if this is an area that I would like to go into in the future. This research experience did not align much with what I had expected as I was involved in the ending part of the research. Initially, I thought I would be involved in the start of a project and help with data collection or data analysis. However, this experience has helped me improve my skills in literature search, APA formatting and professional writing in general. It also gave me an opportunity to learn more about autism in general, which will definitely be beneficial to me in the future.
TS: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your research experience?
NL: This research experience has once again made me realize that research is extremely important as it provides us additional knowledge that we need in order to help individuals who are suffering. And it also made me realize that more research is needed about autism as there are so many things that we still do not understand. Ψ
Created for The Synapse by Incé Husain.
