University of Reading, Harry Pitt Building, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 6BZ, UK.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Jun;53(6):2384-2394. doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05528-9. Epub 2022 Mar 26.
Depression and sensory reactivity are both common in autism. However, there is little understanding of the predictive relationship between these factors, or the nature of this relationship in autistic children who speak few to no words. This study set out to explore the longitudinal relationship between sensory reactivity and depressive symptoms in 33 young autistic children who speak few to no words. We found positive correlations between depressive symptoms and hyper-reactivity and sensory seeking at both timepoints, and across timepoints. We further found a bidirectional predictive relationship between depressive symptoms and sensory seeking. These results implicate sensory seeking in the development of depressive symptoms in young autistic children who use few to no words. Our findings have important implications for preventative mental health interventions, especially for those with a developmental language delay.
自闭症患者中普遍存在抑郁和感官反应过度的情况。然而，对于这些因素之间的预测关系，以及在几乎不说话或无法说话的自闭症儿童中这种关系的性质，我们知之甚少。本研究旨在探索 33 名几乎不说话或无法说话的年轻自闭症儿童的感官反应过度和抑郁症状之间的纵向关系。我们发现，在两个时间点以及跨时间点上，抑郁症状与过度反应和感官寻求之间均呈正相关关系。我们进一步发现，抑郁症状与感官寻求之间存在双向预测关系。这些结果表明，在几乎不说话或无法说话的自闭症儿童中，感官寻求可能会导致抑郁症状的发展。我们的研究结果对预防性心理健康干预具有重要意义，特别是对于那些有发育性语言延迟的人。
