COVID-19 pandemic effects in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their caregivers: Evaluation of social distancing and lockdown impact on mental health and general status.
Lockdown quietly cut mental-health symptoms in autistic adults and daily-support youth, showing that lighter social loads can be therapeutic.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lugo-Marín et al. (2021) checked mental health before and after COVID-19 lockdown. They looked at autistic adults and youth who need daily support (Level 2). No control group—just the same people at two time points.
What they found
Lockdown slightly lowered mental-health symptoms in adults and Level 2 youth. Feeding problems also eased. The only downside: kids made fewer social bids. Overall, less outside stress helped more than it hurt.
How this fits with other research
Two teams saw the opposite. Sutton et al. (2022) followed Italian young adults for a year and found big losses in daily-living skills after services stopped. Vassos et al. (2023) asked Canadian caregivers and heard more autistic traits and anxiety. Adams et al. (2021) also saw more aggression and repetitive behavior during confinement.
The gap is mostly about who is talking. Jorge asked the autistic people themselves; the others used parent reports or tracked different skills. Adults who could answer for themselves liked the quieter schedule. Caregivers and younger kids still struggled.
McCormick et al. (2025) add a clue: when adults keep acting on personal values, pandemic stress hurts less. Less outside pressure plus clear values may explain Jorge’s small gains.
Why it matters
If you serve autistic adults or Level 2 teens, try trimming social and sensory demands for a week. Track mood with simple daily check-ins. You may see the same calm Jorge found—without waiting for the next lockdown.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Among the difficulties associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are those related to adaptation to changes and new situations, as well as anxious-depressive symptoms frequently related to excessive environmental requirements. The main objective of this research is to study the psychological impact of the lockdown due to the social emergency situation (COVID-19) in children/adolescents and adults diagnosed with ASD. Participants were 37 caregivers of children/adolescents with ASD, also 35 ASD adults and 32 informants. Evaluation was conducted through a web survey system and included standardized clinical questionnaires (CBCL and SCL-90-R), which were compared with results before lockdown start, and a brief self-reported survey addressing the subjective perception of changes in daily functioning areas. The results revealed a reduction of psychopathological symptoms in both age groups, but only reaching statistical significance in the adult group, except for Somatization, Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive domains. ASD severity Level 2 showed greater improvement after lockdown onset in the children/adolescent group when compared to ASD Level 1 participants. Younger adults (18-25 yoa) reported greater improvement than older adults (=>25 yoa). Survey results indicate an improvement of feeding quality and a reduction in the number of social initiations during the lockdown. Adult ASD participants perceived a decrease in stress levels after the lockdown onset, whereas caregivers reported higher stress levels at the same point in both age groups. Limitations included the small number of participants and a heterogeneous evaluation window between measures. Pyschopathological status after two months of social distancing and lockdown seems to improve in ASD young adult population.
Research in autism spectrum disorders, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.048