New Study Highlights the Need to Assess Mental Health in Autistic Youth
Thursday, November 17, 2022
New research from Sweden shows that autistic young people are more likely to experience mental health difficulties than people of the same age who don’t have an autism diagnosis.
The study, which assessed 20,841 autistic people ages 16 to 25, also found that autistic females had higher risk than autistic males. The risk among girls and women was especially high for anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. By 25 years of age, slightly more than 22% of autistic females and nearly 11% of autistic males had symptoms significant enough that they sought treatment in a hospital, researchers said (Martini et al., 2022).
What Causes the Higher Risk?
Evidence from some earlier studies has shown that several factors could have contributed to higher risk among those assigned female at birth:
- Autism can look and feel different for people assigned female at birth, which often leads to delayed identification and intervention.
- Some girls and women may be more likely to hide, camouflage, or compensate for autistic characteristics, especially those related to social communication (Corbett et al., 2021).
- Some clinicians mistake autism characteristics for the symptoms of other conditions, which can also result in later diagnoses (Estrin et al., 2020).
Learn more: Why Are So Many Autistic Girls & Women Still Missing Out on Early Identification?
The lack of access to regular mental health care could also explain why hospitalization rates were higher for some people. For example, in community settings, more White students receive evidence-based interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy than Black or Latinx students do. And services for autistic children can be easier to find than services for autistic adolescents and young adults.
A recent study described several other barriers that can make it harder for autistic individuals and their families to access quality health care:
- living in a rural community, or where there is a shortage of services
- having a health care provider without training in how to support autistic individuals
- lacking health insurance or the means to cover treatment costs
- feeling a sense of stigma around mental health care (Malik-Soni et al., 2022)
Sometimes the barriers are systemic or external. Sometimes they’re personal or internal. In a small study published in 2020, autistic young adults expressed some beliefs about mental health care that may have prevented them from seeking help.
For example, some said therapy would work only if they saw a therapist who specialized in working with autistic individuals. Others believed anxiety was just part of autism. Most of the study participants said they preferred to self-manage and did not seek help until their symptoms became severe (Coleman-Fountain et al., 2020).
Need for Comprehensive Evaluation
Because autism and mental health conditions so often co-occur, experts recommend that autism evaluations include screening for anxiety and depression (Lai et al., 2022). Clinicians should also look for any other physical or mental health conditions that could cause anxiety, depression, or sleep problems.
For more information about trusted assessments that can help you identify autism, anxiety, depression, or other co-occurring conditions, contact the WPS Assessment Consultant in your area.
Note: This article uses terms such as “female,” “male,” and “girls and women.” WPS respects the full range of sexes and gender identities. When reporting on studies involving sex and gender, we aim to accurately represent the work of researchers.
Further Reading on Autism
- The WPS In-Depth Guide Autism and ADHD
- Understanding the Complicated Interplay of Autism and ADHD
- How Autism and ADHD Can Disrupt Interoception
- How to Choose the Best Autism Assessment for Your Client
- Best Practices in Autism Assessment
- Autism Conversations: Individualizing Educational Interventions with the MIGDAS-2 Evaluation Process
Videos and Webinars on Autism
- How Cyberbullying Impacts Students On and Off the Autism Spectrum
- Conversation Over Labels: A Better Way to Understand Autism
- Autism Spectrum Brains 'Get Energy' from These Things
Research and Resources:
Coleman-Fountain, E., Buckley, C., & Beresford, B. (2020). Improving mental health in autistic young adults: A qualitative study exploring help-seeking barriers in UK primary care. The British Journal of General Practice, 70(694), e356–e363. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp20X709421
Corbett, B. A., Schwartzman, J. M., Libsack, E. J., Muscatello, R. A., Lerner, M. D., Simmons, G. L., & White, S. W. (2021). Camouflaging in autism: Examining sex-based and compensatory models in social cognition and communication. Autism Research, 14(1), 127–142. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2440
Lai, A. G., Chang, W. H., & Skuse, D. (2022). Autism and mental illness in children and young people require standardised approaches for assessment and treatment. The Lancet Regional Health. Europe, 16, 100360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100360
Lawson, L. P., Richdale, A. L., Haschek, A., Flower, R. L., Vartuli, J., Arnold, S. R., & Trollor, J. N. (2020). Cross-sectional and longitudinal predictors of quality of life in autistic individuals from adolescence to adulthood: The role of mental health and sleep quality. Autism, 24(4), 954–967. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320908107
Lockwood Estrin, G., Milner, V., Spain, D., Happé, F., & Colvert, E. (2021). Barriers to autism spectrum disorder diagnosis for young women and girls: A systematic review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 8(4), 454–470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-020-00225-8.
Maddox, B. B., Dickson, K. S., Stadnick, N. A., Mandell, D. S., & Brookman-Frazee, L. (2021). Mental health services for autistic individuals across the lifespan: Recent advances and current Gaps. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23(10), 66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01278-0
Malik-Soni, N., Shaker, A., Luck, H., Mullin, A. E., Wiley, R. E., Lewis, M., Fuentes, J., & Frazier, T. W. (2022). Tackling healthcare access barriers for individuals with autism from diagnosis to adulthood. Pediatric Research, 91(5), 1028–1035. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-021-01465-y
Martini, M. I., Kuja-Halkola, R., Butwicka, A., Du Rietz, E., D'Onofrio, B. M., Happé, F., Kanina, A., Larsson, H., Lundström, S., Martin, J., Rosenqvist, M. A., Lichtenstein, P., & Taylor, M. J. (2022). Sex differences in mental health problems and psychiatric hospitalization in autistic young adults. JAMA Psychiatry, 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3475. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3475