Is Camouflaging Autistic Traits Associated with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours? Expanding the Interpersonal Psychologi
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S.I. : SUICIDALITY AND SELF-HARM IN AUTISM
Is Camouflaging Autistic Traits Associated with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours? Expanding the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide in an Undergraduate Student Sample S. A. Cassidy1,2 · K. Gould1 · E. Townsend1 · M. Pelton3,4 · A. E. Robertson3,4 · J. Rodgers2
© The Author(s) 2019
Abstract The current study explored whether people who camouflage autistic traits are more likely to experience thwarted belongingness and suicidality, as predicted by the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS). 160 undergraduate students (86.9% female, 18–23 years) completed a cross-sectional online survey from 8th February to 30th May 2019 including selfreport measures of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, autistic traits, depression, anxiety, camouflaging autistic traits, and lifetime suicidality. Results suggest that camouflaging autistic traits is associated with increased risk of experiencing thwarted belongingness and lifetime suicidality. It is important for suicide theories such as the IPTS to include variables relevant to the broader autism phenotype, to increase applicability of models to both autistic and non-autistic people. Keywords Autistic traits · Broader autism phenotype · Camouflaging · Masking · Suicide · Suicidality · Interpersonal psychological theory of suicide · Autism spectrum conditions
Introduction Suicide is the leading cause of death for young people aged between 20 and 34 years in the UK (ONS 2015). Understanding and preventing suicide is highly complex and challenging, involving a combination of biological, environmental and psychological factors (Townsend 2019; O’Connor and Nock 2014; Walter and Pridmore 2012; World Health Organization 2012). There is little research into what drives the associations between autistic traits with suicidal thoughts and behaviours, to help inform new suicide prevention strategies (Cassidy and Rodgers 2017). To address this knowledge * S. A. Cassidy [email protected] 1
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
2
Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
3
Present Address: School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
4
Centre for Innovative Research Across the Lifespan, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
gap, research has started to explore the applicability of suicide theories developed for the general population to autistic people,1 and also how such theories could incorporate new psychological constructs to increase our understanding of suicide in the general population (Cassidy, in press; Pelton and Cassidy 2017). Developing suicide theory to better understand associations between autism and autistic traits with suicidal thoughts and behaviours could benefit our understanding, prediction and ultimately prevention of suicide in both autistic and non-autistic people (Cassidy, in press). Autistic traits are preferences and behaviours characteristic of
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