Investigating Depressive Symptomatology in Autistic Youth
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Authors
Derby, Brianne E.
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Autism , Depression , Youth depression , Symptoms of Autistic Depression , Co-occurring depression , Measures of depression
Alternative Title
Abstract
Despite high rates of co-occurring depression and some differences in depressive symptom presentation in autistic populations, only one previous study has developed and validated a new measure examining depression in autistic individuals. My thesis assessed the factor structure and psychometric properties of the new Symptoms of Autistic Depression (SAD) scale, a new measure of depressive symptoms in autistic youth. The SAD-Parent (SAD-P) and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) were administered to 196 parents of autistic and neurotypical youth. The SAD-Youth (SAD-Y) was also administered to 172 autistic and neurotypical youth. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested a 1-factor model best suited the SAD-P based on factor loadings, parsimony, and interpretability. EFAs conducted separately for parents of neurotypical youth and parents of autistic youth also supported a one-factor solution with the exception of a few items whose loadings differed substantially between the groups. A confirmatory factor analysis of the SAD-Y also yielded evidence of a single factor, and both the SAD-P and SAD-Y demonstrated good internal consistency reliability. Finally, the SAD-P demonstrated good convergent validity with the CBCL depression subscale but poor discriminant validity with the conduct problems subscale. Although more research is needed to validate the scale among diverse populations, the SAD shows promise as a measure of depression in both autistic and neurotypical youth.