Depression and its measurement in verbal adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder
Open accessAbstract
In a sample of 50 verbally fluent adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (age: 16-31 years; verbal IQ: 72-140), we examined the pattern of response and associations between scores on common measures of depressive symptoms, participant characteristics, and clinical diagnosis of depressive disorders. Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition item descriptives in this autism spectrum disorder sample were compared to previously published data from a large typically developing sample, with results suggesting that cognitive-attributional symptoms of depression may be particularly prevalent in autism spectrum disorder. Scores on a variety of self- and parent-report depression measures were not associated with chronological age or verbal IQ, and were relatively highly correlated with each other and with clinical diagnosis of a mood disorder. The Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition and the Adult Self-Report "Depressive" scale best identified both depressed and non-depressed participants in this sample, though neither was particularly strong. Validation studies of depression measures in the autism spectrum disorder population are necessary to advance research into this prevalent and impairing comorbidity.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A validation study of 50 young people with ASD reported good internal consistency on the BDI-II.
“A validation study 24 of 50 young people with ASD reported good internal consistency on the BDI-II (Cronbach ' s alpha = 0.90).”
From Guided self-help for depression in autistic adults: The ADEPT feasibility RCT (2019) · cites this paper as [24]
The Abstract describes a sample of 50 verbally fluent people with ASD aged 16–31. The Results section, “Internal reliability of depression measures,” reports good BDI-II internal reliability, but its Cronbach’s alpha was .87; .90 was the value for the SRDQ, not the BDI-II. (LLM, conf=0.92)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTraditional measures of depression are not well-validated in the ASD population.
“traditional measures of depression are not well-validated in the ASD population [114].”
From Pharmacological treatment in autism: a proposal for guidelines on common co-occurring psychiatric symptoms (2025) · cites this paper as [114]
Identifying core symptoms of depression relies at least partially on self-report.
“identifying core symptoms of depression relies at least partially on self-report [114].”
From Pharmacological treatment in autism: a proposal for guidelines on common co-occurring psychiatric symptoms (2025) · cites this paper as [114]
Gotham et al. reported that cognitive symptoms of depression were the most frequently endorsed BDI-II items in their sample of 50 autistic adolescents and adults.
“Gotham et al. 24 reported that the cognitive symptoms of depression (e.g. negative attributions about the self) were the most frequently endorsed BDI-II items in their sample ( n = 50) of autistic adolescents and adults.”
From Guided self-help for depression in autistic adults: The ADEPT feasibility RCT (2019) · cites this paper as [24]
Two studies have reported that the BDI-II presents as an adequate screening tool for depression in autism, with good internal consistency, adequate sensitivity and specificity, and good convergent validity.
“Two studies 23,24 have investigated the usefulness of the Beck Depression Inventory, version 2 (BDI-II), 25 in autism, reporting that it presents as an adequate screening tool for depression, 23 with good internal consistency, adequate sensitivity and specificity, and good convergent validity. 24”
From Guided self-help for depression in autistic adults: The ADEPT feasibility RCT (2019) · cites this paper as [24]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 64 · Cited by 142
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Harrell FE Regression modeling strategies 2001 Springer New York
- Authors
- Gotham, K., Unruh, K., & Lord, C.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- Venue
- Autism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-06-10
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 491-504
- ISSN
- 1362-3613 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7005
- PMC
- PMC4467786
- OpenAlex
- W2144755939
- Cited by
- 142
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 4.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Autism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation
- University of Michigan
- National Institutes of Health (5rc1mh089721-02)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH 18921, RC1 MH-089721, R25MH057167, T32MH018921, F32MH066469, K01MH103500, MH066469, MH57167, R01MH081873)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD065277)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, depression, depressive symptoms, adolescents and adults, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Adult Self-Report, mood disorders, comorbidities, measurement validity, parent-report measures, verbal IQ
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adolescent, Adult, Depression, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Language Development, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sensitivity and Specificity, Young Adult, Self Report
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
