Health behaviors, psychosocial factors, and academic engagement in youth with autism spectrum disorder: A latent class analysis.

Researchers looked at national survey data from parents of kids with autism. They used math to sort the kids into groups based on health habits, feelings, and school engagement. The sample covered many ages and came from across the United States.

Parents answered questions about sleep, screen time, exercise, mood, and how their child does in school.

Three clear groups popped out. Group 1: healthy, active, and highly engaged in school. Group 2: lots of screen time and big social struggles. Group 3: sat in the middle on most items.

The high-screen-time group also had the lowest school engagement and most emotional problems.

Liyew et al. (2025) also used parent reports to find patterns, but they focused only on sensory and thinking issues in Ethiopian kids. Both studies show parents can spot useful groupings, yet the cultures and ages differ.

Camodeca et al. (2020) interviewed parents and teachers about why primary students with autism struggle in school. Their themes match the target’s Group 2: too much screen time and social trouble hurt participation. The new study adds numbers to those stories.

Appelqvist-Schmidlechner et al. (2020) surveyed young adults with autism and found social ties and daily skills drive mental health. The target study shows the same link starts earlier—kids in the healthy-engaged group already have those protective factors.

Rzepecka et al. (2011) showed poor sleep plus anxiety fuels behavior problems. The target study hints that high screen time may ride the same sleep-anxiety pathway, since that group shows both social and school issues.

You can screen for these three patterns with simple parent questions. If a child lands in the high-screen, low-engagement group, start sleep and social-skills targets before academic ones. Quick triage saves time and gets faster gains.