Table 1.
Demographics and mental health symptoms in autistic and neurotypical adolescents; mean (s.d.), range, group effect statistic and effect size
| Variables | Autistic adolescents (n=61) |
Neurotypical adolescents (n=62) |
χ2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| Sex (male:female) | 42:19 | 26:36 | 7.96** | |||
|
|
||||||
| Mean(SD) | Range | Mean(SD) | Range | t-test/W a | d/r a | |
|
| ||||||
| Age (years) | 13.46(1.77) | 11-17 | 13.52(1.57) | 11-17 | 1863a | .01a |
| WASI full scale IQ | 98.16(13.99) | 75-130 | 100.76(11.55) | 79-128 | -1.12 | 0.20 |
| WASI verbal IQ | 97.23(13.77) | 67-132 | 100.68(10.16) | 79-128 | -1.58 | 0.29 |
| WASI performance IQ | 99.59(15.58) | 68-133 | 100.31(12.88) | 71-131 | -0.28 | 0.05 |
| Word readingb (0-100) | 78(12.35) | 49-98 | 81.35(11.07) | 48-98 | -1.58 | 0.29 |
| Autistic traits | ||||||
| SRS-2 totalc | 77.47(10.65) | 49-90 | 54.26(12.58) | 38-90 | 3213a *** | .70a |
| SCQ Lifetimed | 20.94(6.98) | 6-36 | 4.73(5.24) | 0-26 | 3338a *** | .79a |
| SCQ Currentc | 17.58(5.82) | 5-29 | 7.11(5.03) | 1-26 | 3233a *** | .71a |
| Child-reported mental health | ||||||
| Social anxiety | 65.85(33.61) | 3-134 | 65.35(31.36) | 8-125 | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| BFNE-S | 24.2(9.52) | 9-40 | 16.15(8.49) | 9-40 | -1.20 | 0.22 |
| Trait anxiety | 50.75(10.77) | 28-75 | 50.54(13.1) | 23-75 | 0.10 | 0.02 |
| Depression | 10.38(6.98) | 0-23 | 9.84(7.34) | 0-26 | 1983a | .04a |
| SDQ-Conduct | 3.02(1.94) | 0-9 | 2.90(2.22) | 0-9 | 1981a | .04a |
| SDQ-Hyperactivity | 5.87(2.28) | 2-10 | 5.81(2.60) | 0-10 | 1844a | .02a |
| SDQ-Emotional | 4.97(2.68) | 0-10 | 5.44(2.62) | 0-10 | -0.98 | 0.18 |
| Parent-reported mental health | ||||||
| SDQ-Conductc | 2.55(2.31) | 0-9 | 1.57(1.87) | 0-7 | 2232a * | .23a |
| SDQ-Hyperactivityc | 5.97(2.76) | 0-10 | 3.75(3.02) | 0-10 | 2520a *** | .37a |
| SDQ-Emotionalc | 5.59(2.80) | 1-10 | 3.87(3.15) | 0-10 | 2340a ** | .28a |
Notes:WASI=Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, SRS-2=Social Responsiveness Scale, SCQ=Social Communication Questionnaire. BFNE-S=Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-Straightforward, SDQ=Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, t=t-test statistic, d=Cohen’s d, a=Wilcoxon test statistic and correlation coefficient effect size. b: n=122, c: n=119, d: n=118. p<.05*, .01**, .001***