AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-14DOI: 10.1177/13623613241275468
Kate Cooper, Ailsa Russell
{"title":"Insistence on sameness, repetitive negative thinking and mental health in autistic and non-autistic adults.","authors":"Kate Cooper, Ailsa Russell","doi":"10.1177/13623613241275468","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241275468","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Autistic people are more likely to have mental health problems than non-autistic people. We know that having repetitive and negative thoughts can contribute to multiple mental health problems such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Autistic people often do the same behaviours repetitively, and they may also have more repetitive thinking styles. This could contribute to higher rates of mental health problems in autistic people. In this research, we wanted to find out if higher rates of repetitive behaviours contributed to depression and anxiety, and whether this relationship was because of repetitive negative thinking. We asked three groups of autistic adults to take part in the research. Sixty-seven <i>autistic clinical</i> participants were recruited from clinical settings and had moderate depression. Fifty-four <i>autistic community</i> participants and 66 <i>non-autistic community</i> participants were recruited from community settings. All participants completed measures of repetitive behaviours; a measure of anxiety and depression; and two measures of repetitive negative thinking (ruminating and obsessing). Autistic community participants had significantly higher repetitive behaviours, rumination and obsessing scores than non-autistic community participants. We found that higher rates of repetitive behaviours contributed to more repetitive thinking (obsessing and ruminating), which contributed to higher rates of depression and anxiety. The higher rates of repetitive negative thinking found in autistic individuals may contribute to higher rates of mental health problems in this group. Mental health assessments and interventions for autistic people should therefore consider the role of multiple forms of repetitive negative cognition and behaviour, which cut across diagnostic categories such as anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These should be considered when aiming to understand why individuals develop mental health conditions and why these conditions persist.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"424-434"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816471/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142279949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-11-21DOI: 10.1177/13623613241299285
Yona Lunsky, Robert Balogh, Hannah Chung, Anna Durbin, Meng-Chuan Lai, Ami Tint, Jonathan Weiss, Barry Isaacs, Elizabeth Lin
{"title":"Repeated use of hospital-based services and delayed hospital discharges in a population-based cohort of autistic adults in Canada.","authors":"Yona Lunsky, Robert Balogh, Hannah Chung, Anna Durbin, Meng-Chuan Lai, Ami Tint, Jonathan Weiss, Barry Isaacs, Elizabeth Lin","doi":"10.1177/13623613241299285","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241299285","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>We know that autistic people have more health problems and are more likely to go to the emergency department and get hospitalized than other people, but we know less about the problems they have once they get to the hospital. In this study, we looked at all autistic adults in Ontario and compared them to adults who were not autistic and to adults who had other kinds of developmental disabilities to see who came back to the emergency department in the month after an emergency department visit, who got re-hospitalized in the month after being sent home from hospital, and who stayed in the hospital longer than they needed to because there was no place appropriate for them to go to. We found that both autistic males and females were more likely to have these things happen to them than the same age- and sex-matched adults who did not have developmental disabilities. We also found that adults with other kinds of developmental disabilities had similar problems to autistic people. This makes us think that we need to work harder to improve health care for autistic adults and adults with other developmental disabilities when they come to hospital. We also need to make community services work better, and work more closely with hospital services, so that people only come to hospital when they need to and that they can go home when they are ready.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"536-543"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816466/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142685836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-08-21DOI: 10.1177/13623613241275260
Gray Atherton, Rhys Hathaway, Ingela Visuri, Liam Cross
{"title":"A critical hit: Dungeons and Dragons as a buff for autistic people.","authors":"Gray Atherton, Rhys Hathaway, Ingela Visuri, Liam Cross","doi":"10.1177/13623613241275260","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241275260","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are popular hobbies that may offer specific social benefits for autistic people. This study investigated the ability of TTRPGs to provide a safe space where autistic adults could develop relationships with other autistic adults while engaging in character and world-building. A group of eight autistic adults were split into two groups and taken through a short-form online Dungeons and Dragons campaign over 6 weeks run by one of the researchers. The researcher then led a series of individual semi-structured interviews discussing how participants felt interacting in and out of the TTRPG. Several key themes were identified as important aspects of why autistic people could benefit from such an environment. Analysis showed that while real-life interactions could be challenging, in TTRPG play, they felt they experienced significantly fewer struggles. Results suggested that TTRPGs can provide a safe space environment where autistic adults can engage in productive social interactions with like-minded individuals. It also may allow autistic participants to experience 'bleed' or the ability to take on a new character that changes the way they feel about themselves outside of the game. Future directions for this work are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"382-394"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816462/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142016210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-10-05DOI: 10.1177/13623613241286570
Sara Mazzini, Noor Seijdel, Linda Drijvers
{"title":"Autistic individuals benefit from gestures during degraded speech comprehension.","authors":"Sara Mazzini, Noor Seijdel, Linda Drijvers","doi":"10.1177/13623613241286570","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241286570","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Our study explored how meaningful hand gestures, alongside spoken words, can help autistic individuals to understand speech, especially when the speech quality is poor, such as when there is a lot of noise around. Previous research has suggested that meaningful hand gestures might be processed differently in autistic individuals, and we therefore expected that these hand gestures might aid them less in understanding speech in adverse listening conditions than for non-autistic people. To this end, we asked participants to watch and listen to videos of a woman uttering a Dutch action verb. In these videos, she either made a meaningful gesture while speaking, or not, and speech was clear, or noisy. The task for participants was to identify the verb in the videos. Contrary to what we expected, we found that both autistic and non-autistic individuals use meaningful information from hand gestures when understanding unclear speech. This means that gestural information can aid in communication, especially when communicative settings are suboptimal.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"544-548"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816455/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142375005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-04DOI: 10.1177/13623613251318399
Grant Bruno, Anne Lindblom, Jon-Are Masternes, Jessica Tupou, T C Waisman, Samarra Toby, Christine Vining, Iliana Magiati
{"title":"Global Indigenous perspectives on autism and autism research: Colonialism, cultural insights and ways forward.","authors":"Grant Bruno, Anne Lindblom, Jon-Are Masternes, Jessica Tupou, T C Waisman, Samarra Toby, Christine Vining, Iliana Magiati","doi":"10.1177/13623613251318399","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613251318399","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"275-283"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143188179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-08-25DOI: 10.1177/13623613241272044
Lovisa Alehagen, Sven Bölte, Melissa H Black
{"title":"Application of the international classification of functioning, disability, and health in autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A scoping review.","authors":"Lovisa Alehagen, Sven Bölte, Melissa H Black","doi":"10.1177/13623613241272044","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241272044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) is a framework designed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help different sectors, such as healthcare, social services, education, and policy, understand how people with health-related issues function (do the things they want to and need to do) in their daily lives. This framework has also been used to guide clinical practice and research in autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To make it more practical, shorter versions of the ICF called Core Sets have been developed. We wanted to explore how the ICF and the ICF Core Sets have been used in research relating to autism and ADHD. We looked at the research that had been previously published on this topic by conducting a systematic search and review. Seventy-eight studies meeting our criteria were included in our review. Results show that the ICF has been applied in many ways across various contexts. However, most of the research has focused on autism, mainly involving children. The review highlights that although the ICF was used in some studies, the underlying philosophies of the framework were not always followed. The medical perspective still influenced the way research was done and interpreted. Nevertheless, using the ICF in the right way can help shift research on neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD toward a more holistic approach, moving away from solely focusing on medical aspects.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"310-328"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142054796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-06DOI: 10.1177/13623613241275263
Diana Weiting Tan, Laura Crane, Tori Haar, Melanie Heyworth, Rebecca Poulsen, Elizabeth Pellicano
{"title":"Reporting community involvement in autism research: Findings from the journal Autism.","authors":"Diana Weiting Tan, Laura Crane, Tori Haar, Melanie Heyworth, Rebecca Poulsen, Elizabeth Pellicano","doi":"10.1177/13623613241275263","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241275263","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>There has been a growing push for the Autistic and autism communities to be more actively involved in autism research. From January 2021, the journal <i>Autism</i> made it a rule for authors to report whether they involved community members in their work; and if they did, how they had done so. In this study, we wanted to see how this new rule has changed things. Our team of Autistic and non-autistic researchers read all 283 articles published in <i>Autism</i> in 2019, about 2 years before the rule was in place, and in 2022, about 1 year after. We recorded what each article was about and how the community was involved. We found there was an increase in how often articles talked about community involvement - from about 10% before the rule to over 50% after. Most of these studies, however, only involved community members giving advice, with the researchers making most decisions about the research. This was especially true for applied research (like wellbeing) rather than basic science (like causes of autism). Also, some of these articles were unclear or did not give enough information for us to understand how the community was involved. This tells us that while it is promising that more community involvement is reported, researchers need to describe this involvement more clearly. It is also important for community members to have a bigger say in research by sharing power with the researchers or even leading the research themselves.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"490-503"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816470/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142139178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-11DOI: 10.1177/13623613241276073
Bruce Tamilson, Jessica A Eccles, Sebastian C K Shaw
{"title":"The experiences of autistic adults who were previously diagnosed with borderline or emotionally unstable personality disorder: A phenomenological study.","authors":"Bruce Tamilson, Jessica A Eccles, Sebastian C K Shaw","doi":"10.1177/13623613241276073","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241276073","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Autistic people face many barriers to receiving an autism diagnosis. Often, they may be misdiagnosed with borderline personality disorder instead. For our study, we interviewed 10 autistic adults who had previously been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. This helped us to better understand their experiences. They explained how borderline personality disorder is quite stigmatised and may suggest that people are to blame for their differences in behaviour. They found the treatments they had to try for borderline personality disorder to be harmful. For example, these treatments promoted 'masking'. Previous research showed that masking can be harmful for autistic people, linking it to risk of suicide. This diagnosis also led to healthcare professionals neglecting them and discounting their beliefs. Once they were diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, it was hard to access an autism assessment. When they did receive their autism diagnoses, this was much more positive. This diagnosis was validating. It also improved their mental health, as they were no longer expected to mask - their differences were now accepted. They still felt that autism was stigmatised in society. However, this was very different to the stigma around borderline personality disorder. They felt autism stigma was more about their competence as people, whereas borderline personality disorder stigma was about how they were broken and might be harmful to others. This study is important because it allows their stories to be heard by researchers and healthcare professionals alike. Adding their voices helps to humanise them, promoting positive change in mental health services. More research is now needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"504-517"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816473/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142279957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1177/13623613241275455
Meagan R Talbott, Gregory S Young, Sally Ozonoff
{"title":"Can combining existing behavioral tools improve identification of infants at elevated likelihood of autism in the first year of life?","authors":"Meagan R Talbott, Gregory S Young, Sally Ozonoff","doi":"10.1177/13623613241275455","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241275455","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Many families have concerns about their infants' development in the first year of life. Current screeners cannot tell whether these differences might be related to autism, developmental delays, or likely to resolve on their own. As a result, many families are told to \"wait and see.\" In this study, we looked at whether combining multiple behavior measures can improve prediction of outcomes in toddlerhood. This could help to provide families with more information about the significance of early behavioral differences. We assessed 256 infants with an older autistic sibling at 6, 9, and 12 months. We created three markers of behavioral differences at these ages. We looked at whether infants who had two or more markers were more likely to be on the autism spectrum or have other developmental differences than to have typically developing outcomes at 36 months. We found that very few infants had more than one marker at any age. However, infants who showed two or more markers were more likely to be on the spectrum or have other developmental differences at 36 months than infants who showed only one marker. These findings suggest that when behavioral differences are present on multiple measures, there is no need to wait and see before referring for services.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"462-475"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816472/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142279946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AutismPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1177/13623613241277605
Zoe Matthews, Donna Pigden-Bennett, Teresa Tavassoli, Sarah Snuggs
{"title":"Comparing eating and mealtime experiences in families of children with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dual diagnosis.","authors":"Zoe Matthews, Donna Pigden-Bennett, Teresa Tavassoli, Sarah Snuggs","doi":"10.1177/13623613241277605","DOIUrl":"10.1177/13623613241277605","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Lay abstract: </strong>Children with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may experience eating difficulties and related health issues later in life. Sharing family meals can help prevent these issues developing, but most studies have looked at families with neurotypical children. Our goal was to learn more about how families of children with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and both conditions (autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) experience mealtimes. We developed an online survey asking caregivers about their child's eating, mealtime experience and if they experienced stress. We tested it with nine caregivers and made improvements based on their feedback before recruiting 351 caregivers to complete the main survey. We found that families of children with neurodevelopmental conditions experienced greater food fussiness, emotional undereating, 'problematic' child mealtime behaviours, dietary concerns, higher stress for caregivers and spouses and less frequent conventionally structured mealtimes compared to those without these conditions. Families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder reported greater appetite, 'problematic' mealtime behaviours and increased stress for caregivers and spouses compared to families of children with autism. Meanwhile, families of children with autism and autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder reported less enjoyment of food and less structured mealtimes compared to those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Our findings highlight that families of children with neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly those with autism + attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, have different mealtime experiences and eating behaviours compared to those with neurotypical children. These families may benefit from support at mealtimes. Learning why people do or do not participate in shared family meals will be crucial to developing improved mealtime support in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":8724,"journal":{"name":"Autism","volume":" ","pages":"518-535"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11816458/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142279948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}