Health-related risky behaviors and their risk factors in adolescents with high-functioning autism

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the high-functioning autism and control groups (personal information)

Items	Autism group, n = 110	Control group, n = 110	Z/χ2	P value
Age, median (min, max)	14.5 (12.0, 19.1)	14.4 (12.1, 19.0)	-0.268	0.789
Gender, n (%)			0	0.999
Female	17 (15.5)	17 (15.5)
Male	93 (84.5)	93 (84.5)
Race, n (%)			0.474	0.491
Han nationality	101 (91.8)	98 (91.8)
Ethnic minority	9 (8.2)	12 (8.2)
Residence, n (%)			0.372	0.830
City	94 (85.5)	97 (88.2)
Town	12 (10.9)	10 (9.1)
Village	4 (3.6)	3 (2.7)

Table 2 Demographic characteristics of the high-functioning autism and control groups (family information)

Items	Autism group, n = 110	Control group, n = 110	Z/χ2	P value
Paternal education, n (%)			19.45	0.001
Primary school	1 (0.9)	2 (1.8)
Middle school	3 (2.7)	18 (16.4)
High school	22 (20.0)	31 (28.2)
Undergraduate	60 (54.5)	49 (44.5)
Postgraduate	24 (21.9)	10 (9.1)
Maternal education, n (%)			19.38	0.003
Primary school	1 (0.9)	4 (3.6)
Middle school	5 (4.5)	17 (15.5)
High school	20 (18.2)	29 (26.4)
Undergraduate	64 (58.2)	52 (47.3)
Postgraduate	20 (18.2)	8 (7.3)
Family relationship, n (%)			0.942	0.624
Harmonious	73 (66.4)	78 (70.9)
Fine	29 (26.4)	23 (20.9)
Disharmony	5 (4.5)	6 (5.5)
Parents divorced	3 (2.7)	3 (2.7)
Family financial situation, n (%) (annual income CNY)			15.84	0.003
< 30000	15 (13.6)	6 (5.5)
30000-50000	28 (25.5)	13 (11.8)
50000-70000	19(17.3)	24 (21.8)
70000-100000	27 (24.5)	27 (24.5)
> 100000	21 (19.1)	40 (36.4)
Family history of mental illness			13.21	< 0.001
Positive	15	1
Negative	95	109

Table 3 Comparison of Adolescent Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory total score and subscale scores between the two groups

Total scale/subscales	Autism group, n = 110	Control group, n = 110	Z	P value
Total score	55.0 (38, 177)	49.5 (38, 88)	-3.314	0. 001
Aggression and violence	15.0 (10, 50)	13.0 (10, 29)	-3.045	0.002
Health compromising behavior	10.0 (5, 19)	8.0 (5, 17)	-2.213	0.027
Rule breaking	10.0 (7, 35)	9.5 (7, 18)	-0.741	0. 458
Unprotected sex	5.0 (5, 25)	5.0 (5, 7)	-4.197	< 0. 001
Suicide and self-injury	6.0 (5, 25)	5.0 (5, 17)	-2.581	0.010
Substance use	6.0 (6, 25)	6.0 (6, 9)	-0.766	0. 444

Higher scores represent more frequent health-related risky behaviors.

Table 4 Correlation coefficients between the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory scores and the results of demographic characteristics, Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire and Inventory of Subjective Life Quality for Child and Adolescent

Total scale/subscale	AV	HCB	US	SS	Total score of AHRBI
Residence	0.2361	0.3002	-0.132	0.151	0.2512
Father’s education background	0.031	-0.3442	0.2171	-0.173	-0.091
Mother’s education background	-0.115	-0.2391	0.143	-0.1951	-0.162
Family financial situation	-0.031	0.001	0.024	-0.008	0.003
Family relationship	0.1951	0.136	0.009	0.173	0.2241
ASSQ
Restricted and repetitive behavior	0.079	0.146	0.144	0.010	0.136
Social interactiondisorder	0.015	0.201	0.019	-0.005	0.093
Communicationbarriers	0.072	0.2521	0.128	-0.025	0.151
ISLQ
Cognitive subscale	-0.2331	-0.133	-0.027	-0.2381	-0.2501
Family life	-0.2331	-0.036	-0.013	-0.145	-0.181
Peer interaction	-0.128	-0.177	-0.095	-0.110	-0.181
School life	-0.2932	-0.2881	0.066	-0.2972	-0.3352
Life environment	-0.047	-0.063	-0.047	-0.038	-0.095
Self-cognition	-0.130	0.013	-0.030	-0.181	-0.110
Emotional subscale	-0.3812	-0.059	-0.131	-0.3542	-0.3542
Depression experience	-0.3152	-0.100	-0.107	-0.3302	-0.3152
Anxiety experience	-0.3272	-0.039	-0.112	-0.2851	-0.3012
Body emotion	-0.3452	0.058	-0.122	-0.2221	-0.2431

¹Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

²Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). AHRBI: Adolescent Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory; ASSQ: Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire; AV: Aggression and violence; HCB: Health compromising behavior; ISLQ: Inventory of Subjective Life Quality for Child and Adolescent; SS: Suicide and self-injury; US: Unprotected sex.

Table 5 Correlation coefficients between the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory scores and the results of intelligence quotient, Theory of Mind and expression recognition

Total scale/subscale	AV	HCB	US	SS	Total score of AHRBI
IQ
Verbal IQ	0.042	-0.138	-0.164	-0.050	-0.008
Performance IQ	0.012	-0.181	-0.2451	-0.059	-0.047
Full-scale IQ	0.048	-0.075	-0.2472	0.006	0.009
ToM test
First-order belief test	0.087	-0.181	0.035	-0.014	-0.037
Second-order belief test	-0.061	-0.011	-0.2741	-0.050	-0.043
Expression recognition
Easy facial recognition score	-0.122	-0.214	-0.3062	0.022	-0.124
Complex facial recognition score	0.144	-0.104	-0.031	0.076	0.097
Total scores of expression recognition	-0.017	-0.2431	-0.2331	0.075	-0.043

¹Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

²Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). AHRBI: Adolescent Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory; AV: Aggression and violence; HCB: Health compromising behavior; IQ: Intelligence quotient; SS: Suicide and self-injury; ToM: Theory of Mind; US: Unprotected sex.

Table 6 Multiple linear regression analysis of aggression and violence, health compromising behavior, unprotected sex, suicide and self-injury subscales and total score of Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory

Model	Unstandardized coefficients		t	P value	95% Confidence interval for B
	B	SE			Lower bound	Upper bound
AV
Emotional subscale	-0.268	0.068	-3.954	< 0.001	-0.403	-0.133
HCB
School life experience	-0.152	0.053	-2.841	0.006	-0.258	-0.045
US
Total IQ scores	-0.032	0.015	-2.066	0.042	-0.062	-0.001
Score of second-order belief test	-1.321	0.428	-3.088	0.003	-2.173	-0.470
SS
Depression experience	-0.321	0.073	-4.371	< 0.001	-0.467	-0.175
Total score of AHRBI
Depression experience	-1.603	0.444	-3.613	0.001	-2.487	-0.719

AHRBI: Adolescent Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory; AV: Aggression and violence; HCB: Health compromising behavior; IQ: Intelligence quotient; SS: Suicide and self-injury; US: Unprotected sex.