Behavioral and Social Activation in Autism and Associations with Youth Depressive Symptoms from Youth and Caregiver Perspectives
Open accessAbstract
Autistic youth are more likely to experience depression than their non-autistic peers, yet research on risk and protective factors to depression in this population is limited. Behavioral activation (i.e., prioritizing and engaging in meaningful activities), including social activities, is an important mechanism in the pathway to depression in non-autistic youth that is understudied in autism. Ratings of youth depressive symptoms and behavioral and social activation at one timepoint from 100 autistic youth without intellectual disability and 100 of their caregivers were analyzed. The study aims were to examine caregiver and youth ratings of youth internalizing symptoms and behavioral and social activation, inter-rater reliability on study variables, and associations between depressive symptoms and behavioral and social activation in autistic youth by rater. Results revealed significant differences in youth and caregiver ratings on all variables and inter-rater reliability ranged from poor to moderate. Across both raters, more severe anxiety symptoms and lower behavioral activation were associated with more severe depressive symptoms; social activation, specifically the number of friends youth have, was significant in caregiver ratings only. Findings can be leveraged to enhance risk stratification and intervention efforts for autistic youth experiencing depression.
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- Authors
- Schwartzman, J. M., & Bonner, H. R.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schwartzman, Jessica M.
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2023-06-22
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3364-3375
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- PMC
- PMC10739629
- OpenAlex
- W4381597729
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4
- FWCI
- 1.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (CTSA UL1TR000445)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23-MH131852)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, autistic youth, depressive symptoms, behavioral activation, social activation, anxiety symptoms, caregiver perspectives, youth perspectives, inter-rater reliability, internalizing problems, friendship networks, risk factors for depression, depression prevention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety, Autistic Disorder, Child, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Social Behavior, Reproducibility of Results, Caregivers
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