The study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, represents one of the most comprehensive examinations to date of mental health challenges facing autistic students in higher education—a population that researchers say has been historically underrepresented in academic research despite growing enrollment numbers.
"What we found is really staggering—autistic individuals endorse much higher rates of anxiety and depression compared to their non-autistic peers," said Diego Aragon-Guevara, the study's lead author and a PhD student in psychology at Binghamton University.
The research team analyzed data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which in 2021 became the first year that autism was included as an endorsable category in the survey. This milestone allowed researchers to conduct the first large-scale comparison of mental health outcomes between autistic and non-autistic college students.
"We were really excited to see what the data would tell us. It was a big opportunity to be able to do this," said Dr. Jennifer Gillis Mattson, professor of psychology and co-director of the Institute for Child Development at Binghamton University, who co-authored the study.
The findings come at a critical time for higher education institutions as autism diagnoses continue to rise nationwide and more autistic students pursue college degrees. The research highlights a significant gap in support services that could impact student success and retention.
"We know the number of autistic college students continues to increase every single year," Gillis-Mattson noted. "We really do have an obligation to support these students, and to know how best to support these students, we need to look beyond just autism."
The study reveals that campus support systems may be inadvertently overlooking mental health needs while focusing primarily on autism-specific accommodations. Aragon-Guevara, whose research focuses on improving quality of life for autistic adults, said this represents a critical oversight in student services.
"Support personnel might address an individual's autism and, in the process, overlook their mental health issues," he explained. "More care needs to be put into addressing that nuance."
The research underscores the need for institutions to develop more comprehensive support frameworks that address both autism-related needs and concurrent mental health challenges. The findings suggest that traditional disability services approaches may need significant enhancement to serve this population effectively.
"We want to provide the best support for them and to make sure that they have a college experience where they get a lot out of it, but also feel comfortable," Aragon-Guevara said.
Dr. Hyejung Kim, an assistant professor in Binghamton's Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, noted that the complexity of factors affecting autistic students requires deeper investigation.
"This population often skews male, and interactions between personal factors and conditions such as anxiety and depression may shape overall well-being in college," she said.
Kim also pointed to additional considerations that institutions should examine.
"Autistic students are also more likely to pursue STEM fields, and many report different experiences with faculty and staff across institutional settings," she said. "We still have much to learn about how these and other contextual factors relate to mental well-being."
The Binghamton team views this study as foundational research that confirms the scope of mental health challenges among autistic college students. Their next phase will investigate specific contributing factors, including social dynamics, faculty support, campus accessibility, and other environmental elements that influence student well-being.
"There are so many elements that go into being comfortable in the new environment that is college," Aragon-Guevara explained. "We want to look into that and see if there are any deficits in those areas that autistic college students are experiencing, so that we know where we can help support them, or create institutional things to help improve quality of life as a whole."
The research is part of a broader effort at Binghamton to better understand and support autistic students in higher education, with plans to collaborate with campus partners to develop targeted interventions based on their findings.
