ArticleSuicide & life-threatening behavior2023
The role of anxiety and depression in suicidal thoughts for autistic and non-autistic people: A theory-driven network analysis.
Article in Suicide & life-threatening behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring Patterns of Self-Harm in Autistic Adults Using the Card Sort Task for Self-Harm.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Priorities for change for autistic people across Europe.Molecular autism · 2026Article
- The impact of autism on the relations between social anxiety, camouflaging, and depression in Taiwanese adolescents.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Traumatic Experiences, Psychological Distress and Suicide-Related Behaviors in Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- "A combination of everything": a mixed-methods approach to the factors which autistic people consider important in suicidality.Autism in adulthood · 2025Article
- Correlates of Deliberate Self-Harm in Youth With Autism and/or Intellectual Disability.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- Mental Health as a Key Mediator for Outcomes in Postsecondary Education, Employment, and Everyday Living in Autistic Adults.Autism in adulthood · 2025Article
- Access to services for autistic people across Europe.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Lifetime stressor exposure is related to suicidality in autistic adults: A multinational study.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Examining the Relationship Between Parental Broader Autism Phenotype Traits, Offspring Autism, and Parental Mental Health.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Occurrence and predictors of lifetime suicidality and suicidal ideation in autistic adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2024Article
- Simulation Models for Suicide Prevention: A Survey of the State-of-the-Art.Computers (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The role of anxiety and depression in suicidal thoughts for autistic and non-autistic people: A theory-driven network analysis.Suicide & life-threatening behavior · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAutistic adults experience more frequent suicidal thoughts and mental health difficulties than non-autistic adults, but research has yet to explain how these experiences are connected. This study explored how anxiety and depression contribute to suicidal thoughts according to the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide for autistic and non-autistic adults.
methodsParticipants (autistic adults n = 463, 61% female; non-autistic n = 342, 64% female) completed online measures of anxiety, depression, thwarted belonging, and perceived burdensomeness. Network analysis explored whether: (i) being autistic is a risk marker for suicide; and (ii) pathways to suicidal thoughts are consistent for autistic and non-autistic adults.
resultsBeing autistic connected closely with feeling like an outsider, anxiety, and movement, which connected to suicidal thoughts through somatic experiences, low mood, and burdensomeness. Networks were largely consistent for autistic and non-autistic people, but connections from mood symptoms to somatic and thwarted belonging experiences were absent for autistic adults.
conclusionAutistic people experience more life stressors than non-autistic people leading to reduced coping, low mood, and suicidal thoughts. Promoting belonging, reducing anxiety, and understanding the role of movement could inform suicide prevention for autistic people. Research should accurately capture autistic lived experience when modeling suicide to ensure suicide prevention meets autistic needs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.