Gender differences in mental health prevalence in autism

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2020-06-06 DOI:10.1108/AIA-01-2020-0007

F. Sedgewick, J. Leppanen, K. Tchanturia

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引用次数: 27

Abstract

Purpose Mental health conditions are known to be more common amongst autistic than non-autistic people. To date, there is little work exploring gender differences in mental health amongst autistic people and no work including non-binary/trans people. This paper aims to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach This was a large-scale online study, with 948 participants between 18 and 81 years old. Participants self-reported autism, anxiety, depression and eating disorder status. Analyses were run examining gender differences in the rates of these conditions in each group. Findings Autistic people are more likely to have anxiety and depression than non-autistic people of all genders. Autistic women and non-binary people experienced mental health issues at higher rates than men and at similar rates to each other. Autistic people were twice as likely as non-autistic people to have all eating disorders. Further, gendered patterns of eating disorders seen in the non-autistic population are also present in the autistic population. Research limitations/implications There are inherent issues with self-report of diagnoses online, but this study showed that using screening questionnaires is effective. Originality/value This is the first paper to look at gender differences in common mental health issues amongst autistic and non-autistic adults. It highlights that there are significant gendered patterns in the prevalence of mental health issues in both the autistic and non-autistic population and that these have an impact for how treatment should be approached to be effective.

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自闭症患者心理健康患病率的性别差异

目的众所周知，精神健康状况在自闭症患者中比非自闭症患者更常见。到目前为止，几乎没有研究自闭症患者心理健康方面的性别差异，也没有包括非二元/跨性别者在内的研究。本文旨在解决这一差距。设计/方法论/方法这是一项大规模的在线研究，有948名参与者，年龄在18岁至81岁之间岁参与者自我报告自闭症、焦虑、抑郁和饮食障碍状况。进行了分析，检查了各组中这些疾病发生率的性别差异。发现自闭症患者比所有性别的非自闭症患者更容易出现焦虑和抑郁。自闭症女性和非二元人群经历心理健康问题的比率高于男性，而且彼此的比率相似。自闭症患者患所有饮食障碍的可能性是非自闭症患者的两倍。此外，在非自闭症人群中发现的饮食失调的性别模式也存在于自闭症人群。研究局限性/含义在线自我报告诊断存在固有问题，但本研究表明，使用筛查问卷是有效的。原创性/价值这是第一篇研究自闭症和非自闭症成年人常见心理健康问题的性别差异的论文。它强调，在自闭症和非自闭症人群中，心理健康问题的流行存在显著的性别模式，这些模式对如何有效地进行治疗产生了影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.