Lifetime stressor exposure is related to suicidality in autistic adults: A multinational study.
Rachel L Moseley, Darren Hedley, Julie M Gamble-Turner and 6 others
PMID 39655441WHAT IT FOUND
Treatment and health stressors linked to suicidality in both autistic men and women.
Men’s risk tracked with chronic interpersonal loss, while women’s tracked with acute danger. Counter-intuitively, women reporting less chronic entrapment had higher suicidality scores.
Key findings
01Experiencing more treatment and health-related stressors over the life course was related to greater suicidality for both autistic men and women.
02Chronic interpersonal loss predicted suicidality in autistic men, whereas acute danger stressors predicted suicidality in autistic women.
03In contrast to expectations, experiencing fewer chronic entrapment stressors predicted suicidality in autistic women.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that stressors caused suicidality; suicidality could also generate stress or distress. Participants with intellectual disabilities were excluded, and the sample was highly educated and verbally fluent, so findings do not represent the full autism spectrum. The gender binary assessment excluded non-binary individuals and may have misclassified transgender participants. The measurement tools (STRAIN, K6, SBQ-R) were not originally designed or validated specifically for autistic people. Data came from two different studies with different recruitment methods and collection times (pre- and during-pandemic), though researchers controlled for site.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding came from Suicide Prevention Australia, the Australian Research Council, NHMRC, and the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between stressors and suicidality as a causal link. The study is cross-sectional, meaning it only shows that these factors occur together, not that one caused the other.