Brief Report: Initial Evidence of Depressive Symptom Disparities among Black and White Transition Age Autistic Youth

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2022-08, Vol.52 (8), p.3740-3745
• Main Authors: Williams, Ed-Dee G., Smith, Matthew J., Sherwood, Kari, Lovelace, Temple S., Bishop, Lauren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Analysis; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Black or African American; Brief Report; Child and School Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Complications and side effects; Demographic aspects; Depression; Depression in adolescence; Diagnosis; Disability; Employment; Health care disparities; Healthcare Disparities; Humans; Inequality; Mental depression; Mental health; Neurosciences; Pediatrics; Pervasive developmental disorders; Psychology; Public Health; Racial differences; Risk factors; Special education; White People
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05242-y

The lived experience of being autistic and being Black in America both put youth at higher risk for developing depressive symptoms. However, there is a dearth of research examining potential disparities in autistic youth with depression. The current study examined disparities in depressive symptoms among a sample of Black and White autistic youth between the ages of 16 and 26 years old. Using analysis of covariance this study found that the Black autistic youth had significantly higher depressive symptoms than White autistic youth (m = 7.3, sd = 4.4 vs. m = 3.8, sd = 3.6; t = 2.6, p = 0.013). This study presents initial evidence of a significant racial disparity between Black and White autistic youth depressive symptoms.