一项关于自闭症青少年社交和非社交奖励反应性发展及抑郁症的多方法调查研究方案：自闭症中的奖励与抑郁症（RDA）

Study protocol for a multimethod investigation of the development of social and nonsocial reward responsivity and depression in autistic adolescents: Reward and Depression in Autism (RDA).

作者信息

Schwartzman Jessica M, Kujawa Autumn, Jeste Shafali S, Corbett Blythe A, Xu Wenyi, Monachino Alexa D, Castro Marian A, Cardenas-Quintero Katia, Dao Anh, Durazo-Arvizu Ramon, Morales Santiago

机构信息

Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA.

Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA.

出版信息

BMC Psychol. 2025 Jun 4;13(1):603. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02911-w.

DOI:10.1186/s40359-025-02911-w

PMID:40468369

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Autistic adolescents are more likely to experience depression than their non-autistic peers, yet risk factors for depression in autistic adolescents are not well understood. Better mechanistic knowledge of depression in autistic adolescents is critical to understanding higher prevalence rates and developing targeted interventions. Altered reward responsiveness and social processes, as assessed by clinical and neural measures [i.e., electroencephalography (EEG)], are important risk factors for depression in non-autistic adolescents that remain largely unexplored in autistic adolescents, even though autistic people have higher rates of depression, exhibit reward differences, and often experience difficulties in social interactions. Therefore, a multimethod investigation of social and nonsocial reward responsivity and their associations with depression symptoms in autistic adolescents, particularly over time, is needed.

METHODS

The current project will employ clinical and neural measures (i.e., interviews, EEG tasks) of social and nonsocial reward responsivity and depression to test associations between these constructs in autistic adolescents for the first time. A clinical sample of 100 autistic adolescents (14-17 years old) without intellectual disability and with varying severity of depression symptoms (at least 50% with current depression) will be recruited. Clinical and neural measures will be administered at two timepoints one year apart. Planned analyses will test cross-sectional and longitudinal relations between clinical and neural measures of reward responsivity and depression symptoms.

DISCUSSION

This systematic study of reward responsivity and depression in autistic adolescents is likely to advance our collective understanding of depression in this population by informing risk stratification models and identifying potential intervention targets. Findings may also establish the reliability of several clinical and neural measures of reward responsivity in this population that can eventually be used to measure treatment outcome and identify predictors of treatment response.

摘要

背景

与非自闭症青少年相比，自闭症青少年更易患抑郁症，然而自闭症青少年抑郁症的风险因素尚未得到充分了解。深入了解自闭症青少年抑郁症的发病机制对于理解其较高的患病率以及制定针对性干预措施至关重要。通过临床和神经学测量方法[即脑电图（EEG）]评估发现，奖励反应性和社交过程的改变是非自闭症青少年抑郁症的重要风险因素，而在自闭症青少年中这方面的研究仍基本空白，尽管自闭症患者抑郁症发病率更高，存在奖励差异，且经常在社交互动中遇到困难。因此，需要对自闭症青少年的社交和非社交奖励反应性及其与抑郁症状的关联进行多方法研究，尤其是随时间变化的情况。

方法

本项目将采用社交和非社交奖励反应性及抑郁症的临床和神经学测量方法（即访谈、EEG任务），首次测试这些指标在自闭症青少年中的关联。将招募100名无智力障碍、抑郁症状严重程度各异（至少50%目前患有抑郁症）的14至17岁自闭症青少年作为临床样本。临床和神经学测量将在相隔一年的两个时间点进行。计划分析将测试奖励反应性和抑郁症状的临床及神经学测量之间的横断面和纵向关系。