Psychology Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Psychiatry Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Autism Res. 2023 Jul;16(7):1403-1412. doi: 10.1002/aur.2959. Epub 2023 May 24.
The COVID-19 pandemic elicited increases in anxiety and depression in youth, and youth on the autism spectrum demonstrate elevations in such symptoms pre-pandemic. However, it is unclear whether autistic youth experienced similar increases in internalizing symptoms after the COVID-19 pandemic onset or whether decreases in these symptoms were present, as speculated in qualitative work. In the current study, longitudinal changes in anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in autistic youth were assessed in comparison to nonautistic youth. A well-characterized sample of 51 autistic and 25 nonautistic youth (age = 12.8, range = 8.5-17.4 years, IQ > 70) and their parents completed the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), a measure of internalizing symptoms, repeatedly, representing up to 7 measurement occasions from June to December 2020 (N ~ 419 occasions). Multilevel models were used to evaluate changes in internalizing symptoms over time. Internalizing symptoms did not differ between autistic and nonautistic youth in the summer of 2020. As reported by youth themselves, internalizing symptoms decreased in autistic youth, both overall and compared to nonautstic peers. This effect was driven by decreases in generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression symptoms in autistic youth. Reductions in generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and depression in autistic youth may be due to COVID-19 pandemic-specific differences in response to social, environmental, and contextual changes that unfolded in 2020. This highlights the importance of understanding unique protective and resilience factors that may be evident in autistic individuals in response to broad societal shifts such as those seen in response to COVID-19.
新冠疫情引发了青少年焦虑和抑郁情绪的增加，而自闭症谱系障碍青少年在疫情前就表现出了这种症状的升高。然而，目前尚不清楚自闭症青少年在新冠疫情爆发后是否经历了类似的内化症状增加，或者是否如定性研究中推测的那样，这些症状有所减少。在本研究中，我们评估了自闭症青少年在新冠疫情期间焦虑和抑郁的纵向变化，并与非自闭症青少年进行了比较。一个由 51 名自闭症和 25 名非自闭症青少年（年龄 = 12.8 岁，范围 = 8.5-17.4 岁，智商 > 70）及其父母组成的特征良好的样本，反复使用修订后的儿童焦虑和抑郁量表（RCADS），这是一种内化症状的测量工具，从 2020 年 6 月到 12 月代表多达 7 次测量（N~419 次）。使用多层次模型来评估随时间变化的内化症状。2020 年夏天，自闭症和非自闭症青少年的内化症状没有差异。正如青少年自己报告的那样，自闭症青少年的内化症状减少了，无论是整体还是与非自闭症同龄人相比。这种效应是由自闭症青少年的广泛性焦虑、社交焦虑和抑郁症状的减少驱动的。自闭症青少年广泛性焦虑、社交焦虑和抑郁的减少可能是由于 2020 年社会、环境和背景变化所带来的对新冠疫情的反应的特殊性差异。这凸显了理解在应对广泛的社会变革（如对 COVID-19 的反应）时可能在自闭症个体中表现出的独特保护和适应因素的重要性。
