Autistic individuals are at significantly higher risk of suicide than non-autistic individuals, with transition-aged youth at potentially the highest risk. While lower executive function (EF) skills have been significantly associated with suicide risk in other clinical samples, the link between EF and suicidality has not yet been examined for autistic individuals. In this study, 183 transition-aged autistic youths completed routine suicide risk assessments and self- and informant-reports of autistic traits, depression, and EF skills. On the P4 Suicide Screener, approximately one-third of the sample (33.3%) endorsed having thoughts of hurting themselves with the intent to end their lives (i.e., suicidal ideation) in their lifetime. In addition to depressive symptoms, EF impairment independently predicted endorsement of suicidal ideation, indicating that both are crucial intervention goals to target suicidal risk for transition-aged youth on the spectrum. Findings suggest that executive functioning, a prevalent area of difficulty and common intervention target for the autistic community, is an important indicator of suicide risk in this population.Lay AbstractAutistic people are more likely to consider suicide than non-autistic people, with transition-aged youth (ages 16–21 years) at potentially the highest risk. Research has also shown that difficulties with executive functioning (e.g., difficulties with organization, sequencing, and decision-making) may heighten suicide risk among non-autistic people, but it is not clear whether this is also true for autistic people. This study explored this question by asking 183 transition-aged autistic youth about their experience with suicidal behavior and examining the relationship between their responses and additional measures of depression, autistic traits, and executive function skills. About one-third of autistic transition-aged youth (33.3%) said that they had experienced thoughts of hurting themselves with the intent to end their lives (i.e., suicidal ideation). Both depression and executive function challenges predicted suicide risk (i.e., participants who experienced depression were more likely to have had suicidal thoughts than those who had not, and participants who had more difficulty with executive function skills were more likely to have had suicidal thoughts than those who had less difficulty). These findings suggest that executive functioning, a common area of difficulty among autistic people, is an important indicator of suicide risk in this population.

中文翻译：

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过渡时期自闭症青少年的自杀风险：执行功能、抑郁和自闭症特征之间的联系

自闭症患者的自杀风险明显高于非自闭症患者，其中处于过渡年龄的青少年的风险可能最高。虽然在其他临床样本中较低的执行功能 (EF) 技能与自杀风险显着相关，但尚未针对自闭症患者检查 EF 与自杀之间的联系。在这项研究中，183 名过渡年龄的自闭症青少年完成了常规自杀风险评估以及自闭症特征、抑郁症和 EF 技能的自我报告和知情人报告。在 P4 自杀筛查中，大约三分之一的样本 (33.3%) 认可在一生中曾有过伤害自己以结束生命的想法（即自杀意念）。除了抑郁症状外，EF 损伤还可以独立预测自杀意念的认可，这表明两者都是针对跨年龄段青少年自杀风险的关键干预目标。研究结果表明，执行功能是自闭症群体中普遍存在的困难领域和共同干预目标，是该人群自杀风险的重要指标。 摘要 自闭症患者比非自闭症患者更有可能考虑自杀，过渡年龄的人更容易考虑自杀。青少年（16-21 岁）的潜在风险最高。研究还表明，执行功能方面的困难（例如组织、排序和决策方面的困难）可能会增加非自闭症患者的自杀风险，但尚不清楚自闭症患者是否也是如此。本研究通过询问 183 名处于过渡年龄的自闭症青少年有关自杀行为的经历，并检查他们的反应与抑郁症、自闭症特征和执行功能技能等其他指标之间的关系，探讨了这个问题。大约三分之一的自闭症过渡期青少年（33.3%）表示，他们曾有过伤害自己并意图结束生命的想法（即自杀意念）。抑郁症和执行功能挑战都可以预测自杀风险（即，经历过抑郁症的参与者比没有经历过抑郁症的参与者更有可能有自杀念头，而执行功能技能有困难的参与者比那些没有经历过抑郁症的参与者更有可能有自杀念头。谁的难度较小）。这些发现表明，执行功能是自闭症患者常见的困难领域，也是该人群自杀风险的重要指标。