Asperger's Severity: Poll Findings

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I've gone through and compiled the poll results from all four of the severity correlation polls. I'd love to hear any theories that anyone has regarding the results!

Across all of the polls, and based on the definitions provided in the original polls, I found that an average of 54% of participants considered their AS to be mild, 38% considered their AS to be moderate and 8% considered their AS to be severe.

First up, I'll list the poll that seemed to have the most obvious correlation: special interests!

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SPECIAL INTERESTS
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt196604.html


Overall, 8% of participants indicated that their special interest was highly social in nature, 46% indicated their special interest was moderately social and 46% indicated their special interest was solitary.

For those reporting Mild AS, the breakdown was:

12% have a highly social interest
54% have a moderately social interest
34% have a solitary interest

For those reporting Moderate AS, the breakdown was:

0% have a highly social interest
32% have a moderately social interest
68% have a solitary interest

For those reporting Severe AS, the breakdown was:

11% have a highly social interest
44.5% have a moderately social interest
44.5% have a solitary interest

From the above results, it seems pretty clear that those reporting Mild AS are more likely to have more sociable special interests than those with Moderate or Severe AS. This makes sense to me, as having a more sociable special interest can help someone with AS to learn how to better socialize.

Oddly enough, it seems like the Moderate group had more solitary interests than the Severe group. This result goes toward a pattern I noticed across the polls, though, and I'm interested to see what you guys think. I will share this pattern and my guess as to why it exists.

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CO-MORBIDS
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt195184.html

Overall, 32% of participants reported no co-morbids, or one co-morbid with overlapping symptoms. 68% reported 1 or more significant co-morbids that had difficulties unique from AS.

Anxiety Disorders (including GAD, Social Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder - NOS) and Depression made up more than half of the reported co-morbids. Others included ADHD, OCD, Bi-Polar Disorder, various Learning Disorders, and PTSD.

Of those reporting Mild AS, the breakdown was:

46% with no unique co-morbids
54% with one or more unique co-morbids

Of those reporting Moderate AS, the breakdown was:

12% with no unique co-morbids
88% with one or more unique co-morbids

Of those reporting Severe AS, the breakdown was:

17% with no unique co-morbids
83% with one or more unique co-morbids

Again, it appears that far fewer of those reporting Mild AS have unique co-morbids than those reporting Moderate or Severe AS. Also, it appears that those with Moderate AS seem to be more likely to have a co-morbid condition, which continues the pattern.

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ABUSIVE/ABSENT PARENTS
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt195185.html

Overall, 56% of participants reported having abusive and/or absent parents, while 44% reported having non-abusive parents.

Of those reporting Mild AS, the breakdown was:

50% with abusive/absent parents
50% with non-abusive parents

Of those reporting Moderate AS, the breakdown was:

67% with abusive/absent parents
33% with non-abusive parents

Of those reporting Severe AS, the breakdown was:

50% with abusive/absent parents
50% with non-abusive parents

There doesn't seem to be a specific correlation between severity and abusive/absent parents in those with Mild or Severe AS, but again, those with Moderate AS appear to report a much higher tendency for having abusive parents.

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IQ
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt196603.html

This poll is a bit of a throwaway, because many of the reported IQs were from online tests, not official tests. Nonetheless, I'll share the results, but we should probably take them with a grain of salt.

Overall, 56% of participants reported a Very Superior IQ, 21% reported a Superior IQ, 16% reported a High Average IQ, 4% reported an Average IQ, 2% reported a Low Average, and 1% reported a Borderline IQ.

Of those reporting Mild AS, the breakdown was:

47% with a Very Superior IQ
26% with a Superior IQ
20% with a High Average IQ
5% with an Average IQ
2% with a Low Average IQ
0% with a Borderline IQ

Of those reporting Moderate AS, the breakdown was:

64% with a Very Superior IQ
13% with a Superior IQ
17% with a High Average IQ
6% with an Average IQ
0% with a Low Average IQ
0% with a Borderline IQ

Of those reporting Severe AS, the breakdown was:

60% with a Very Superior IQ
0% with a Superior IQ
10% with a High Average IQ
10% with an Average IQ
10% with a Low Average IQ
10% with a Borderline IQ

Again, this poll is a throwaway because the poll results aren't entirely reliable, but for the 'heck of it,' we can discuss any correlations. The most interesting thing to me is that those reporting Mild AS seem to have a higher representation of those with a High Average-Superior IQ range, while more than half of those with Moderate or Severe AS reported an IQ in the Very Superior range. This is interesting, because it's been established that those with a genius range IQ (gifted individuals) often have social deficits outside of an AS diagnosis, so having an incredibly high IQ could possibly compound the symptoms the social deficit symptoms of AS. Those in the High Average-Superior range may be better equipped to function socially because they aren't as over-analytical, but still have a high level of intelligence than can aid in learning to fake socializing better.

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Alright, so that's all of those polls.

I think the Special Interest and Co-Morbid polls had the most to say. It appears that those with milder forms of AS tend to have naturally social special interests and very few if any co-morbid conditions with their own unique difficulties.

The Abusive/Absent Parents poll didn't really show any interesting correlations, thought it did contribute to a pattern I noticed with those who reported Moderate AS. I'll discuss that below.

The IQ poll could have been quite interesting, if the poll results were fully reliable. I still think it would be nice to discuss the results.

Now, those reporting Moderate AS appear to have a higher tendency of having co-morbid conditions, abusive/absent parents and solitary/less social special interests. One would think this would be seen more in those with Severe AS. However, I have an idea about this.

I think that it's possible that Asperger's itself is a relatively mild condition, but that negative life circumstances can impact one's ability to succeed and push their own boundaries. Those Moderate Aspies might be Mild if they didn't have severe anxiety, depression, OCD or ADHD. They might be Mild if they grew up with supportive parents. 54% of participants in the polls reported having Mild AS, so it appears to be the dominant severity level. What about those reporting severe AS, though?

8% of poll participants reported having Severe AS, a tiny representation compared to Moderate and Mild types. In the poll results, it seemed that this minority group of Aspies was relatively unaffected by any of the circumstances presented. The suggestion here is that Severe cases of AS are unlikely to improve based on better circumstances. Why might this be? I think it's possible that those reporting Severe AS may in fact have HFA, or at least fall a bit lower on the spectrum than those who have AS, but who may have received the AS diagnosis because of arbitrary distinctions between the two.

What do you guys think?

I'd love to hear any and all opinions on the correlations (or lack-thereof) presented above.

P.S. I absolutely do not mean to offend those who used online IQ tests in the poll, or those who reported having Severe AS. I'm just making guesses based on patterns that I noticed; I do not claim in any way to be correct in those assumptions.

Last edited by fragileclover on 29 Apr 2012, 1:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

My goodness! How long did it take you to write this poll entry? I'm impressed!

A couple of hours...I didn't want to have created so many polls without properly following through!

Any of the 100+ people who responded to the polls have any comments or ideas about the results?

As one of those who voted Moderate AS w/ comorbids and abusive parents, I 100% agree. I probably would have had more mild AS if I had had better circumstances. Particularly since you listed the ability to live on one's own as a cutoff point. I also agree with what you said about more severe AS not being as affected as much by circumstance.

I do think you might want to consider a possible reporting bias in the severity level though. People are more likely to want to consider themselves mild or milder than they are. People who know they are severe (or have a low IQ for that matter) might have avoided the poll because they didn't want to admit it. I would have been among them if I hadn't read your definitions of the terms Mild, Moderate and Severe.

Yeah, these polls certainly weren't scientific, but I thought they may end up being somewhat insightful and worth discussing.

I'm glad that the results did seem to represent at least somewhat your experiences. Hopefully others will respond and we'll be able to determine if there is anything to the findings.

I think the finding for severe do not mean much. Not enough of a sample size. And I think you should put a link to each thread for its part of the poll of your findings in your original message (so people can see sample size). I already stated why I didn't think the IQ test was reliable poll to do. Lets say every one had just gone with valid test scores. People would not care to vote in the poll as much if they have lower IQ scores.

Yeah, I mentioned that the IQ poll was a bit of a throwaway, but included the results in case anyone wanted to discuss them.

I'll include links to the original polls. That is a good idea. Thanks.

I think this may be true. I'd like to add, some people are indeed so smart and clever they simply don't learn as much adaptation skills, as they feel and see they don't need to. Later they either become geniuses or are pushed on the edge of society (fall out the system).


Anxiety and avoiding social interactions go hand-in-hand, imho (i.e. there's a high correlation). Also, there's a natural need to gain acceptance of your special interests, and it needs the ability to interact with people, sooner or later it becomes clear. Apart from a minority, I don't think that purely solitary special interests can replace the natural endeavors of ASD people to live independently and / or do something with which they can contribute to society eventually. Even those living a hermit-like life often do something that's compelling to the public.


Perhaps the more severe people can not see themselves from the outside as well as less severe ones. They might be so disconnected from the world they don't know if their difficulties are the result of bad nurturing or they are born with it, or what are the exact proportions. Also, people who are obviously "off" or odd are more likely to be accepted the way they are, i.e. they are disabled in a way, while the moderate group probably endures the highest pressure of all.

P.S. thanks for all of this!

I couldn't really say whether my abusive parent specifically made my functioning worse. I can see particular practical measures that he prevented (such as the high school I was supposed to attend that would have accommodated my learning style) that may have had better outcomes for me, but I have no idea how much I would actually have benefited.

I think I only answered one of your polls. Sorry about that. I'm very inconsistent and distractable.
My dad was hardly in the picture (most likely AS) and my mum was very supportive but had no idea that I was autistic or had any of the problems going on with me...apart from the learning disorders.
Still the Moderate AS group relates to me. My interests are mostly solitary, I have co-morbids...the IQ portion confuses me. But I suppose in autism or I guess AS in particular, you can have a high IQ and still be impaired in other areas.
My impairments further impair my IQ. Anyway, it's no bother. People think I'm smart and that's good enough for me.
I think I'm closer to severe AS/HFA but have made some improvements.

It's interesting that you think there would be a bias towards "mild" when I was thinking the opposite. If you're mild there may be some question whether you actually have AS or not (especially without an official diagnosis) and therefore whether you really "belong" here. I've already read some slightly negative sentiment towards the "mild" Aspies on WP. So, if anything, I'd expect people to be biased towards "moderate". I think fragileclover's definitions of mild, moderate and severe were good and mostly avoided this issue, but there is always some room for bias.