Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Smith, Jessica V
• McQuaid, Goldie A
• Wallace, Gregory L
• Neuhaus, Emily
• Lopez, Andrea
• Ratto, Allison B
• Jack, Allison
• Khuu, Alexis
• Webb, Sara J
• Verbalis, Alyssa
• Pelphrey, Kevin A
• Kenworthy, Lauren

Titel

Time is of the essence: Age at autism diagnosis, sex assigned at birth, and psychopathology

Ist Teil von

• Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024-05, p.13623613241249878

Ort / Verlag

England

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Previous research has shown that girls/women are diagnosed later than boys/men with autism. Individuals who are diagnosed later in life, especially girls/women, have greater anxious and depressive symptoms. Previous research has been limited due to narrow inclusionary criteria for enrollment in studies. The present study uses two samples-one clinic-based, large "real-world" sample and another research-based sample with strict criteria for autism diagnosis-to understand the relationships between diagnostic age, sex assigned at birth, and symptoms of anxiety/depression. In both samples, those who were diagnosed later had greater anxious/depressive symptoms, and anxiety was not predicted by sex. In the clinic-based but not research-based sample, those assigned female at birth were diagnosed later than those assigned male at birth. In the clinic-based sample only, individuals assigned female at birth and who were later diagnosed experienced greater symptoms of anxiety/depression compared to those assigned male who benefited from earlier diagnostic timing. Within the research-based sample, those assigned female at birth had greater depressive symptoms than those assigned male. These findings highlight the importance of timely identification of autism, especially for girls/women who are often diagnosed later. Community-based samples are needed to better understand real-world sex-based and diagnostic age-based disparities in mental health.