ArticleAutism : the international journal of research and practice2023
A longitudinal study of the mental health of autistic children and adolescents and their parents during COVID-19: Part 1, quantitative findings.
Article in Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychoeducational Challenges of Dyslexic Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Dyslexia (Chichester, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in the mental health of children and young people with pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Research Review: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and young people with pre-existing mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions - a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Pooled it
- Umbrella Review: Mental Health Interventions for Autistic Children and Adolescents: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Participatory Equity Synthesis.JAACAP open · 2026Review
- Facing Change and Uncertainty: Lessons Learned from Autistic Children and their Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
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- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities: A Systematic Review.Review journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Review
- Impact of COVID-19 on Adaptive Skills and Psychiatric Symptoms in South Korean Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Behavioral and Emotional Health of Young Children With Autism.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- Understanding the effect of COVID-19 on two children with autism and their caregivers: a case study research design.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2025Article
- Understanding the Impact of Home Confinement on Children and Young People with ADHD and ASD During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Article
- Psychosocial Outcomes in Autistic Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2024Article
- Views and experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2024Article
- Remote vs. In-person Schooling during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Internalizing Symptoms among Children on the Autism Spectrum.Research in autism spectrum disorders · 2023Article
- Factors associated with mental health symptoms among UK autistic children and young people and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2023Article
- [A review of research on psychological and behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder during the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2023Review
- Unveiling the underside of COVID-19: a pediatric perspective from Pakistan.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Article
- Disabled people's experiences accessing healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Parental anxiety and depression are associated with adverse mental health in children with special needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
lay abstractAutistic 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.
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