An Investigation of Dissociative Symptoms and Related Factors in Autistic Adolescents.
One in eight autistic teens show clinical-level dissociation, and trauma history is the clearest red flag.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave a short survey to 102 autistic teens .
They used a checklist that flags dissociative symptoms like spacing out, memory gaps, or feeling unreal.
Kids also answered questions about past trauma and current age.
What they found
One in eight teens scored above the clinical cutoff for a dissociative disorder.
Older teens and those with childhood trauma had higher scores.
The link stayed even after the researchers controlled for sex and IQ.
How this fits with other research
Kose et al. (2025) used the same survey style with autistic teens and found empathy and sensory patterns drive social skills.
Melodi’s team shows trauma and age drive dissociation in the same age band.
Together the papers map two separate risk roads: one social-cognitive, one trauma-based.
Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) found that autistic kids who are bullied most show poor social tuning and rigid behavior.
Bullying is a common childhood trauma, so their data help explain why some of Melodi’s teens later dissociate.
Why it matters
You now have a fast screen for dissociation: the same 11-18 age window you already target for social-skills groups.
Add the brief trauma checklist to your intake packet.
If a teen scores high, weave grounding tactics into your behavior plan before you teach social or daily-living skills.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite exposure to trauma and adverse life events being frequently reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), few studies have examined the relationship between these factors and dissociative symptoms in the autistic population. The aim of the study is to investigate symptoms of dissociation in autistic adolescents, and to explore factors that could be associated with dissociative symptoms in ASD. This cross-sectional study involved 59 autistic adolescents between 12 and 18 years old, with the mean age of 14.3 ± 1.8. Dissociation, autism characteristics, childhood traumas, peer bullying, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms were assessed using the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (ADES), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Nine-Item Child-Adolescent Bullying Screen (CABS-9), and the Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI), respectively. Results from the ADES revealed that 12.5% of the participants scored above the threshold for dissociative disorders. In the linear regression model constructed to evaluate factors associated with dissociative symptoms, an increase in dissociative symptoms was statistically significantly associated with an increase in the total CTQ score (p = 0.002) and age (p = 0.006). The findings of the study indicate that dissociative symptoms may occur in autistic adolescents. It is suggested that dissociative symptoms observed in autistic adolescents may particularly be associated with childhood traumas and increasing age. Further research into dissociative symptoms in ASD is warranted, requiring larger sample sizes, specialized measurement scales, and structured interviews.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1046/j.1440-1819.2002.01053.x