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Brief Report: Convergence and Discrepancy Between Self- and Informant-Reported Depressive Symptoms in Young Autistic Adults

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Abstract

Purpose

Autistic individuals exhibit elevated rates of depression; however, assessment is complicated by clinical presentations and limited validation in this population. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in screening for depression in ASD. The current study extends this work by examining the convergence and divergence of self- and informant-reported depression in autistic (n = 258) and non-autistic (n = 255) young adults.

Methods

Participants completed the BDI-II as a self-report measure of depression; informants completed the Achenbach Adult Behavior Checklist. Analyses probed for between-group differences in rates of depression symptoms, convergence between self- and informant-reported depression, and discrepancy between self- and informant-reported depression.

Results

Results indicated significantly higher rates of depressive symptoms in the autistic group. Convergence was significant in both groups, with significantly greater agreement in the autistic group. There was differential divergence, with the autistic group reporting significantly lower scores relative to informants, and the non-autistic group reporting significantly higher scores relative to informants.

Conclusions

Consistent with prior reports, results suggest that depression rates are elevated in autism. Additionally, while the BDI-II may be adequate for screening depressive symptoms in speaking autistic young adults, eliciting information from a close adult informant provides valuable diagnostic information, due to clinically critical concerns about underreporting in this population. Although controlled in analyses, between-group differences in gender, age, race, and informant identity, and a predominantly White and non-Latinx sample, limit the generalizability of these results.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants and their families for their time and efforts, and SPARK for facilitating this research.

Funding

This research received funding from the National Institutes of Health R01MH112687-01A1 to IM Eigsti and NIDCD T32DC017703 to IM Eigsti and HR Thomas. This work was also funded by a Holster scholarship, a Co-op Legacy Fellowship, and grants from the Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the PCLB Foundation to A. Sirsikar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Hannah R. Thomas, Aditi Sirsikar & Inge-Marie Eigsti

Authors
  1. Hannah R. Thomas
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  2. Aditi Sirsikar
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  3. Inge-Marie Eigsti
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Contributions

Hannah R. Thomas: Formal Analysis, Writing – original and editing, Visualization. Aditi Sirsikar: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – editing. Inge-Marie Eigsti: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review/editing.

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Correspondence to Inge-Marie Eigsti.

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Thomas, H.R., Sirsikar, A. & Eigsti, IM. Brief Report: Convergence and Discrepancy Between Self- and Informant-Reported Depressive Symptoms in Young Autistic Adults. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06230-0

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