Brief Report: The Influence of Autism Severity and Depression on Self-Determination Among Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Susan W White, Isaac Smith, Alexis M Brewe
PMID 34185238WHAT IT FOUND
Autism symptom severity, not depression, predicted lower self-determination in 59 young adults.
While more severe autism correlated with higher depression, only autism severity uniquely explained reduced self-determination. Clinical focus should target autism-related barriers to goal-setting rather than mood alone.
Key findings
01Autism symptom severity significantly predicted self-determination scores, but depression did not.
02Self-determination was negatively correlated with both autism severity and depression, and these two variables were positively correlated with each other.
03Participants with a diagnosed depressive disorder had more severe autism symptoms than those without, but their self-determination scores did not differ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
All key variables relied on self-report, which may introduce bias despite evidence for its validity in this population. The sample was small (59 participants) and homogeneous, mostly white and male with average cognitive ability, limiting generalizability. Only 12 participants had a diagnosed depressive disorder, resulting in low statistical power to detect differences in self-determination related to mood. The study used a cross-sectional snapshot of pre-treatment data, so it cannot establish causality between severity, depression, and self-determination.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that depression has no impact on self-determination or that it is unrelated to autism severity. The study found a strong correlation between the two, but depression did not uniquely predict self-determination when autism severity was accounted for. This suggests autism severity is a stronger direct predictor, not that depression is clinically irrelevant.