PEERS® for Adolescents Curriculum: Assessing the Role of Ethnicity in Predicting Social Skills Outcomes Ngozika Egbuonu, Allison Ganel, and Elizabeth Laugeson, Psy.D. UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior The Help Group - UCLA Autism Research Alliance BACKGROUND MEASURES DISCUSSION Previous research has identified disparities in the use of and access to services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from different ethnic groups (Sullivan, 2013). Efforts to understand the impact of treatment upon ethnically-diverse individuals are necessary for determining the effectiveness of programs, such as social skills training. Social deficits are often a hallmark feature of ASD (Norbury & Sparks, 2013) and a target of treatment; however, the influence that culture and ethnicity have upon treatment outcome is rarely examined. Research on the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), an evidence-based social skills intervention for adolescents with ASD, report improvements in social functioning (Laugeson et al., 2009; Laugeson et al., 2012), yet the extent to which ethnicity predicts social skills treatment outcomes has yet to be explored. This study aims to identify whether ethnicity predicts improvements in overall social skills in adolescents with ASD following the completion of a 14-week social skills intervention. The current study hypothesizes that ethnic minority participants (non-Caucasian) will exhibit fewer improvements in social skills than Caucasian participants following the PEERS® for Adolescents intervention. This is the first study to investigate the role of ethnicity in predicting treatment outcome following the PEERS® for Adolescents Curriculum. These findings suggest that PEERS® is an effective treatment intervention for a variety of ethnic groups. While these findings are encouraging, they do not tell us whether the intervention could be further enhanced by taking into account cultural differences. Future research should investigate how different cultural groups identify with the social guidelines used in social skills interventions like PEERS®, and whether there is a need for greater cultural adaptations to improve upon the already positive effects of this program. By understanding which social skills are more salient to each cultural group, clinicians may be able to improve interventions even further by making them more culturally inclusive. Quality of Socialization Questionnaire (QSQ; Frankel & Mintz, 2008): Measures the frequency of the adolescents’ get-togethers in the previous month. Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS; Constantino, 2012): An autism screening questionnaire that assesses the adolescents’ ability to respond to and interpret social cues, as reported by parents. Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008): A standardized measure assessing overall social skills aptitude, as reported by parents. RESULTS REFERENCES QSQ Pre-test Frequency of Hosted Get-Togethers in Previous Month SRS Pre-test Social Responsiveness SSIS Pre-test Overall Social Skills Constantino, J. (2005). Social Responsiveness Scale. Western Psychological Services: Torrance, CA. Frankel, F., & Mintz, J. (2008). Measuring the quality of play dates. UCLA Parenting and Children’s Friendship Program: Los Angeles, CA. Gresham, F.M., & Elliott, S.N. (2008). Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) Rating Scales Manual. Minneapolis, MN: Pearson. Laugeson, E. A., Frankel, F., Gantman, A., Dillon, A. R., & Mogil, C. (2012). Evidence-based social skills training for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: The UCLA PEERS program. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(6), 1025–1036. Laugeson, E. A., Frankel, F., Mogil, C., & Dillon, A. R. (2009). Parent-assisted social skills training to improve friendships in teens with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(4), 596-606. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0664-5. Norbury, C. F., & Sparks, A. (2013). Difference or disorder? Cultural issues in understanding neurodevelopmental disorders. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 45-58. doi:10.1037/a0027446. Sullivan, A. L. (2013). Autism identification: Prevalence, racial disparities, and systemic correlates. School Psychology Review, 42(3), 298-316. PARTICIPANTS Participants had the following characteristics: N=94 adolescents diagnosed with ASD Age: M=13.43; SD=6.80; Range=11 to 17 years of age Gender: 78% male, 22% female Ethnicity: Caucasian 75% (n=70); Hispanic 10% (n=9); African American 5% (n=5); Asian American 7% (n=7); Middle Eastern 3% (n=3) QSQ Post-test Frequency of Hosted Get-Togethers in Previous Month SRS Post-test Social Responsiveness SSIS Post-test Overall Social Skills Results of the multiple linear regression indicate that parent-reported changes in social skills are not statistically significant on the: QSQ pre-, t(91)=1.84, n.s., and post-intervention, t(91)=6.91, n.s. SRS pre-, t(91)=15.49, n.s., and post-intervention, t(91)=13.59, n.s. SSIS pre-, t(91)=18.84, n.s., and post-intervention, t(91) = 20.58, n.s. These findings suggest that ethnicity does not affect social skills treatment outcomes following the PEERS® for Adolescents intervention. METHODS Adolescents and their parents attended concurrent but separate 90-minute group social skills treatment sessions for 14 weeks. To assess the role of ethnicity in changes in social skills from pre- to post-intervention, a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted examining parents’ perceptions of their adolescents’ social functioning. For additional information please contact: Ngozika Egbuonu at peersclinic@ucla.edu or (310) 26-PEERS Visit the PEERS ® website at www.semel.ucla.edu/peers