Anxiety, depression, and well-being in autistic adults and adults with other developmental disabilities: A longitudinal cross-lagged analysis.
Hillary Schiltz, Kyle Sterrett, Hannah Singer and 1 others
PMID 37376983WHAT IT FOUND
In adults with autism or developmental disabilities, caregiver-reported anxiety predicted later depression, but depression did not predict later anxiety.
Depression linked to lower purpose and growth, while both anxiety and depression linked to lower self-acceptance.
Key findings
01Caregiver-reported anxiety at the first timepoint significantly predicted depression at the second, but caregiver-reported depression did not significantly predict later anxiety.
02Caregiver-reported depression was negatively associated with purpose in life and personal growth, whereas anxiety was not significantly associated with these domains.
03Both caregiver-reported depression and anxiety explained unique variance in self-acceptance, with higher symptoms associated with lower self-acceptance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was predominantly White (82.3%) and male (77.6%), limiting generalizability to females and other racial groups. Self-report analyses were exploratory due to small sample sizes (n=55-79 depending on measure), and results differed from caregiver reports. Anxiety and well-being measures had not been validated in autistic adults. The study recruited participants diagnosed in the early 1990s, so findings may not generalize to adults diagnosed later in life. Attrition was associated with lower parent education and African American race, potentially biasing the remaining sample.
Declared interests
One author acknowledges receiving royalties from the sale of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), which was used to measure autism features. Other authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume anxiety and depression have the same directional impact on well-being. Caregiver data showed depression specifically linked to lower purpose and growth, while both linked to lower self-acceptance. Also, self-report results differed from caregiver reports, so do not treat the temporal direction between anxiety and depression as settled.