McDonnell Christina G, Kaya Robert A, Andrzejewski Theresa, Batista Saily Gomez
Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jun;55(6):2173-2178. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06687-7. Epub 2024 Dec 28.
Autistic adults experience high rates of traumatic events and PTSD. However, little work has evaluated motor vehicle accident (MVA) related trauma symptoms. The goal of this brief report was to provide pilot data characterizing MVA-related peritraumatic reactions, trauma symptoms, and rates of PTSD diagnosis and mental health service use among Autistic compared to non-autistic adults.
Participants were 637 adults in the United States (276 Autistic, 361 non-autistic) who completed an online survey assessing MVA experiences. Participants provided information about peritraumatic reactions to the accident, and whether they were diagnosed with PTSD or sought mental health services relating to the MVA. Participants also completed the Posttraumatic Symptom Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) in relation to the worst MVA experienced.
48.7% of Autistic adults had experienced an MVA relative to 64.5% of non-autistic adults. Of those who experienced an MVA, Autistic adults reported higher peritraumatic dissociative reactions, and higher MVA-related total, negative mood/cognition, and hypervigilance PTSD symptoms than non-autistic adults, when adjusting for covariates. Autistic adults were significantly more likely to have sought mental health treatment relating to the MVA (11.9% compared to 0.9% of non-autistic adults), and to have received a PTSD diagnosis relating to the MVA (5.9% compared to 0.4% of non-autistic adults).
Autistic adults reported higher levels of trauma-related sequalae in response to MVAs than non-autistic adults. Future research should examine MVA-related trauma in more diverse samples, and develop assessment and support strategies to better identify, prevent, and reduce trauma-related symptoms post MVAs for Autistic people.
成年自闭症患者经历创伤性事件和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的比例很高。然而，很少有研究评估与机动车事故（MVA）相关的创伤症状。本简要报告的目的是提供初步数据，以描述与MVA相关的创伤周围反应、创伤症状，以及与非自闭症成年人相比，自闭症成年人中PTSD诊断率和心理健康服务使用率。
参与者为637名美国成年人（276名自闭症患者，361名非自闭症患者），他们完成了一项评估MVA经历的在线调查。参与者提供了有关事故创伤周围反应的信息，以及他们是否被诊断为PTSD或寻求与MVA相关的心理健康服务。参与者还完成了与经历的最严重MVA相关的《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第5版创伤后症状清单（PCL-5）。
48.7%的自闭症成年经历过MVA，而非自闭症成年人为64.5%。在经历过MVA的人中，在调整协变量后，自闭症成年人报告的创伤周围解离反应更高，与MVA相关的总体、负面情绪/认知和过度警觉PTSD症状比非自闭症成年人更高。自闭症成年人明显更有可能寻求与MVA相关的心理健康治疗（11.9%，而非自闭症成年人中为0.9%），并被诊断为与MVA相关的PTSD（5.9%，而非自闭症成年人中为0.4%）。
与非自闭症成年人相比，自闭症成年人报告因MVA产生的创伤相关后遗症水平更高。未来的研究应在更多样化的样本中研究与MVA相关的创伤，并制定评估和支持策略，以更好地识别、预防和减少自闭症患者在MVA后与创伤相关的症状。
