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Brief Report: Exploratory Evaluation of Clinical Features Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

There has been a heightened awareness of an increased risk of suicidality among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to high rates of suicidal ideation (SI) in this population (11–66%). The current study investigated the rate of parent-endorsed SI and associated clinical features in 48 youths with ASD (Age; M: 12.97 years, SD: 2.33). SI was endorsed in 18.75% of participants. Youth with SI exhibited significantly higher levels of affective problems, externalizing problems, feelings of humiliation and rejection, and symptoms related to perfectionism. Results indicate that co-occurring mental health problems are associated with suicidal ideation and provide relevant targets for psychotherapeutic intervention. This preliminary study in a modest sample suggests the value of further research in larger samples to replicate and generalize these findings.

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Funding

Funding for this manuscript was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH100173, U19 MH108206, R01 MH107426). Scott Jackson received funding through the National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH18268).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, School of Medicine, Yale University, 40 Temple Street, Suite 6A2, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Kimberly S. Ellison, Elzbieta Jarzabek, Scott L. J. Jackson, Adam Naples & James C. McPartland

  2. Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Kimberly S. Ellison

  3. Office of Assessment and Analytics, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT, 06515, USA

    Scott L. J. Jackson

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  1. Kimberly S. Ellison
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  5. James C. McPartland
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Contributions

Formal analysis was done by KSE, SLJ and AN. Funding acquisition was done by SLJ and JCM. Investigation was done by KSE and EJ. JCM done project administration. Resources, Supervision, Validation was done by JCM and AN. Visualization was done by KSE and AN. Original draft preparation was done by KSE. Review & editing was done by KSE, AN and JCM. All authors contributed to the study's conception and methodology.

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Correspondence to James C. McPartland.

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Conflict of interest

James C. McPartland consults with Customer Value Partners, Bridgebio, Determined Health, and BlackThorn Therapeutics, has received research funding from Janssen Research and Development, serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Pastorus and Modern Clinics, and receives royalties from Guilford Press, Lambert, and Springer.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standard.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ellison, K.S., Jarzabek, E., Jackson, S.L.J. et al. Brief Report: Exploratory Evaluation of Clinical Features Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 54, 803–810 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05575-2

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