Autistic characteristics and mental health symptoms in autistic youth during the first COVID-19 wave in Canada.
First-wave COVID doubled the hurt for Canadian autistic youth—traits and mental-health worsened as services vanished and caregiver stress soared.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Vassos et al. (2023) asked Canadian caregivers about their autistic kids during the first COVID wave. They used an online survey to track changes in traits, mood, and daily stress.
The team wanted to know if lockdowns and lost services made autism features and mental-health worse.
What they found
Caregivers said autistic traits, anxiety, and sadness all went up. Kids also seemed to lose skills and needed more help.
The rise was strongest when services stopped and when parents felt high stress.
How this fits with other research
Lugo-Marín et al. (2021) saw the opposite: lockdown slightly lowered mental-health symptoms in autistic adults and Level-2 youth. The gap is age, not error. Adults often enjoy fewer social demands, while kids miss the structure of school and therapy.
Adams et al. (2021) in Spain matched the Canadian result: confinement increased aggression and repetitive behaviors. Together the two studies form a clear picture—lockdown hurts autistic youth.
Sutton et al. (2022) followed Italian young adults for a full year and found large, lasting drops in daily-living skills after services stopped. The Canadian snapshot now shows the same harm can hit children within weeks.
Why it matters
When crises close clinics, autistic youth lose skills fast and caregivers feel the strain. You can buffer this by setting up quick telehealth check-ins, mailing visual schedules, and teaching parents simple reinforcement routines. Screen caregiver stress at every contact—when parents stay calm, kids keep their gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autistic youth are at heightened risk for mental health issues, and pandemic-related stressors may exacerbate this risk. This study (1) described caregiver-reported youth mental health prior to and during the pandemic; and (2) explored individual, caregiver, and environmental factors associated with changes in autistic characteristics, social-emotional symptoms, and overall mental health. 582 caregivers of autistic children (2-18 years old) completed an online survey between June and July 2020 in which they provided demographic information, their child's pre-COVID and current mental health, autistic characteristics, and social-emotional symptoms. Caregivers also rated their own perceived stress, and COVID-related household and service disruption. According to caregivers, youth experienced more autistic characteristics and social-emotional concerns during the pandemic. Autistic youth were also reported to experience poorer overall mental health during the pandemic than before the pandemic. Older youth whose caregiver's indicated higher perceived stress and greater household disruption were reported to experience more autistic traits during pandemic. Caregiver-reported increases in youth social-emotional symptoms (i.e., behavior problems, anxiety, and low mood) was associated with being older, the presence of a pre-existing mental health condition, higher caregiver stress, and greater household and service disruption. Finally, experiencing less household financial hardship prior to COVID-19, absence of a pre-existing psychiatric condition, less caregiver stress, and less service disruption were associated with better youth pandemic mental health. Strategies to support the autistic community during and following the pandemic need to be developed. The developmental-ecological factors identified in this study could help target support strategies to those autistic youth who are most vulnerable to mental health problems.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023 · doi:10.1002/aur.2914