What we found:
1) Most autistic youth (83.5%) in this clinical sample reported lifetime suicidal thoughts, even as young as 10 years old.
2) Suicide thought content most commonly included abstract thoughts of dying/suicide (23.3%) and death by cutting (15.1%).
1) Most autistic youth (83.5%) in this clinical sample reported lifetime suicidal thoughts, even as young as 10 years old.
2) Suicide thought content most commonly included abstract thoughts of dying/suicide (23.3%) and death by cutting (15.1%).
Comments
4) Nearly 1 in 4 youth attempted suicide (24.3%), and some youth (15.5%) sought help from caregivers to prevent an attempt.
6) Among youth with nonsuicidal self-injury (n = 52; 50.5%), head hitting (n = 28; 45.2%) and cutting (n = 20; 32.3%) were the most reported types.
Findings show the importance of targeted prevention and intervention to address STB in autistic youth!
And the urgency of continued research to understand barriers & modifiable factors to facilitate disclosure and help-seeking behaviors for autistic youth in crisis.
And to my talented collaborators Alex Rubin, @kathrynfox.bsky.social Darren Hedley & @ahbettis.bsky.social