Mental health in autism: a meta-analysis on self-esteem and a longitudinal investigation of adverse childhood experiences and depression

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dc.check.date2027-12-31
dc.contributor.advisorRyan, Christian
dc.contributor.advisorLarkin, Fionnuala
dc.contributor.authorMoran, Niamh.en
dc.contributor.funderHealth Service Executive
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-25T11:18:09Z
dc.date.available2024-09-25T11:18:09Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.date.submitted2024
dc.description.abstractAutistic people are significantly more likely to experience depression than non-autistic people. Both self-esteem and adverse childhood experiences have been implicated in the development of depression in the general population. This is of concern, as there is research which suggests that autistic children are more likely to experience ACEs than non-autistic children, yet little is known regarding the longitudinal impact of ACEs in this population. There are inconsistent findings regarding whether autistic people report lower self-esteem than non-autistic people. The current research aims to address these gaps through two independent studies. First, this thesis presents a meta-analysis investigating whether autistic people report lower self-esteem than non-autistic people. Findings suggest that autistic people do report lower mean self-esteem scores than non-autistic people. Second, an empirical study is presented that investigated whether autistic children experienced more ACEs than typically developing children in a nationally representative Irish sample, using secondary data from the Growing Up in Ireland study. The empirical study also investigated the longitudinal effects of ACEs on emotional problems and depressive symptoms in a TD sample and an autistic sample. Findings from this study revealed that autistic children were significantly more likely than TD peers to experience three or more ACEs by age 9. While experiencing three or more ACEs as opposed to no ACEs by age 9, was associated with increased emotional problems and depressive symptoms in our TD sample, this relationship was not evident in our autistic sample. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed within.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationMoran, N. 2024. Mental health in autism: a meta-analysis on self-esteem and a longitudinal investigation of adverse childhood experiences and depression. DClinPsych Thesis, University College Cork.
dc.identifier.endpage236
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16446
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2024, Niamh Moran.
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectAutism
dc.subjectMental health
dc.subjectAdverse childhood experiences
dc.subjectSelf-esteem
dc.subjectDepression
dc.subjectACES
dc.subjectLongitudinal
dc.subjectMeta-analysis
dc.titleMental health in autism: a meta-analysis on self-esteem and a longitudinal investigation of adverse childhood experiences and depression
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnameDClinPsych - Doctor of Clinical Psychologyen
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