Key findings

The study surveyed twenty-two students, around 10% of autistic students known to the university, at four points across the academic year 2020-21. They completed quantitative measures capturing their current mental health, and behavioural measures of alcohol and drug use.

We conducted in-depth interviews with 12 of these students about their experiences of mental health and mental health support at university.

This is a good sample size for this type of research and the students represented a range of subjects, with a mix of ages, genders, and undergraduate/postgraduate status.

The survey results showed that:

• Autistic students had poor mental health, reaching clinical cut-off points for anxiety, social anxiety, depression, OCD, and ADHD
• They did not report harmful behaviours such as overconsumption of alcohol or heavy recreational drug use.
• Mental health, drinking, and drug use were stable across all timepoints.

They tended to use a roughly equal mix of proactive (e.g., asking for help) and avoidant (e.g., denial) coping strategies, in contrast to non-autistic people who tend to predominantly use proactive approach style strategies.

Network analysis revealed a connection between using more avoidant strategies and worse chronic mental health issues.

This may mean that traditional support reliant on students seeking help does not work for autistic students, who may instead benefit from regular, structured meetings with a key person where they are comfortable to raise issues they face.

Interviews revealed that while some aspects of university life were positive for autistic students, such as increased independence, making genuine friendships, and reasonable adjustments to assessment, others contributed to maintaining or worsening their mental health.

Examples given included lack of autism knowledge among staff, stigmatising attitudes, and complex support systems.