Date of Conferral

5-19-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Tracy Masiello

Abstract

Adults are being diagnosed with autism at greater rates than in the past two decades. This research study examined whether the age of autism diagnosis impacts the severity of comorbid mental health disorders in adults formally diagnosed with autism. The Empathizing-Systemizing theory, which posits that autistic individuals systemize at greater rates, was applied to understand the link between age of autism diagnosis and two common comorbid disorders, depression (measured by the PHQ-9) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; measured by the PCL-5). Mediation analyses were used to explore these relationships on a convenience sample of 232 adults with autism. No significant relationship was found between age of diagnosis and either disorder, possibly due to inadequate statistical power. A power analysis indicated that a sample size of 300 was needed. A cyclical relationship between depression, PTSD, and anxiety (measured by the BAI) was also reviewed, as all three variables were used as mediators in two different models. A significant relationship was found between depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The results indicated that on average, participants were anxious (severe), depressed (moderate), and experienced high levels of PTSD symptoms (severe). The findings support social change by suggesting that the relationship between these comorbid disorders is cyclical and may inform future treatment strategies. This information is especially important to practitioners working with autistic adults as it may change the focus of treatment from decreasing or suppressing autism symptoms to addressing other mental health concerns, with the goal of increasing quality of life for this population.

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