Higher Depressive Symptoms Predict Lower Social Adaptive Functioning in Children and Adolescents with ASD

ABSTRACT

Objective: Despite the frequent occurrence of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), few studies have investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and adaptive functioning. The present study explored the impact of depressive symptoms on different domains of adaptive functioning in children and adolescents with ASD.

Methods: Depressive symptoms and adaptive functioning were analyzed in 62 children and adolescents with ASD (20 females) and 36 children and adolescents (15 females) with typical development between 5 and 18 years of age.

Results: After controlling for IQ, age and sex, higher depressive symptoms predicted lower functioning in the social domain among children and adolescents with ASD. Depressive symptoms did not significantly predict communication or daily living skills.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the relevance of depression in social adaptive function in ASD and emphasize the importance of assessing depressive symptomatology when evaluating social skills and planning treatment for children and adolescents with ASD.

Ethics approval

This study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Institutional Review Board at Yale University (Yale IRB protocol number: 303025065).

Disclosure statement

All authors report no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Grant [R01 MH100173].