A longitudinal study of the mental health of autistic children and adolescents and their parents during COVID-19: Part 1, quantitative findings.

This study followed autistic children and their families during COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK. Researchers found that autistic children had higher levels of anxiety and depression compared to children with other disabilities. While children with other disabilities felt better as lockdown ended and schools reopened, autistic children's anxiety and depression stayed high throughout the entire period. Parents' mental health was similar across both groups.

This longitudinal study tracked the mental health of autistic children/adolescents and their parents during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown through school reopening (March-October 2020). Using standardized questionnaires at four time points, researchers compared autistic young people with those having other special educational needs/disabilities. Results showed autistic children consistently experienced higher anxiety and depression symptoms throughout the study period. While anxiety decreased for children with other disabilities as lockdown eased and schools reopened, autistic children's anxiety and depression remained persistently elevated.

Parent mental health showed no differences between groups. Findings suggest COVID-19's societal changes disproportionately impacted autistic young people's psychological wellbeing, with recovery patterns differing from peers with other disabilities.

Findings suggest autistic children may require specialized mental health interventions during societal disruptions, as they show different recovery patterns compared to peers with other disabilities. Clinicians should monitor autistic children's mental health more closely during crisis periods and consider that standard approaches effective for other disability groups may not be sufficient.

Sample size not reported in abstract. Study limited to UK first lockdown period only. Reliance on parent-reported measures rather than direct child assessment. No control group of typically developing children for broader context comparison.

Autistic children and adolescents, and their parents/carers, tend to experience more symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to those with other special educational needs and disabilities. The rapid change in society as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have disproportionately affected autistic young people and their parents/carers. We investigated how the mental health of autistic young people, and their parents/carers, developed during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom and how it changed once schools fully reopened for face-to-face teaching approximately 6 months later. Parents/carers completed online standardised questionnaires about their own and their child's mental health at four time points between March 2020 and October 2020.

We found that, throughout this period, autistic young people experienced more symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to those with other special educational needs and disabilities. Anxiety levels decreased as lockdown progressed and schools reopened for face-to-face teaching but only for those with other special educational needs and disabilities. For autistic young people, both anxiety and depression symptoms remained high throughout. There were no differences in the mental health of parents/carers of autistic children compared to those with other special educational needs and disabilities.

These findings suggest that the mental health of autistic children and adolescents is likely to have been disproportionately affected during and after the first lockdown in the United Kingdom. In the second part of this article (Asbury & Toseeb, 2022), we attempt to explain these trends using qualitative data provided by parents during the same period.