Exploring the association between social skills struggles and social communication difficulties and depression in youth with autism spectrum disorder.
Teaching everyday social skills, not just eye contact, may directly lower depression in autistic youth.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Pascoe et al. (2023) looked at autistic youth.
They asked which social problems link to depression.
They split social skills from autism core symptoms.
Then they saw which set predicted depression after age, sex, and IQ were held steady.
What they found
Only everyday social skills struggles predicted later depression.
Core social-communication symptoms did not.
In short, knowing how to greet, share, or join a game matters more than eye-contact oddness.
How this fits with other research
Mamimoué et al. (2024) agree. Their 2024 review says poor relationships raise depression risk, and they warn no mood scale captures this for autistic teens.
Shyu et al. (2026) extend the story. They show low perceived social competence lowers quality of life in autistic adolescents.
McGonigle et al. (2014) seem to clash. They found social cognition did not predict depression. The gap is method: J tested mind-reading tasks; Isabel tested real-life social skills. Skills, not test scores, drive mood.
Why it matters
You now have a clear target. Add social-skills goals to behavior plans.
Teach greetings, turn-taking, and conflict steps. Track mood as you track mand trials.
A teen who learns to enter a lunch table may also shed depressive thoughts.
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Pick one peer interaction skill, script three entry lines, and run five practice trials before lunch.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by social communication difficulties and social skills abilities that are significantly differ from neurotypical populations as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Furthermore, many autistic youth experience co-occurring conditions, with one of the most common being depression. This depression is suggested to be, in part, the result of the relative social isolation experienced by autistic youth. Therefore, it is important to examine social functioning differences in autistic youth and their association with depression. There has been limited research investigating the association between social communication difficulties and depression, or the association between social skills struggles and depression, and no research investigating both of these in the same population. We found that social communicative symptoms of autism (as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) were not associated with depression scores (as measured by the Revised Checklist for Anxiety and Depression) after controlling for age, sex, and IQ. In contrast, we did find a significant association between social skills struggles (as measured by the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-2) and depression in the same sample. Higher social skills struggles were associated with higher depression scores after controlling for age, sex, and IQ. Reasons for the potential discrepancy between these findings are discussed, and clinical implications of these findings are explored.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023 · doi:10.1002/aur.3015