The association of adverse life events and parental mental health with emotional and behavioral outcomes in young adults with autism spectrum disorder

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk of developing co-occurring mental health difficulties across the lifespan. Exposure to adverse life events and parental mental health difficulties are known risk factors for developing a range of mental health difficulties. This study investigates the association of adverse life events, parental stress and mental health with emotional and behavioral problems in young adults with ASD. One hundred and fifteen young adults with ASD derived from a population-based longitudinal study were assessed at three time-points (12-, 16-, and 23-year) on questionnaire measures of emotional and behavioral problems. Parent-reported exposure to adverse life events and parental stress/mental health were measured at age 23. We used structural equation modeling to investigate the stability of emotional and behavioral problems over time, and the association between adverse life events and parental stress and mental health and emotional and behavioral outcomes at 23-year. Our results indicate that exposure to adverse life events was significantly associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems in young adults with ASD, while controlling for symptoms in childhood and adolescence. Higher reported parental stress and mental health difficulties were associated with a higher frequency of behavioral, but not emotional problems, and did not mediate the impact of adverse life events. These results suggest that child and adolescent emotional and behavioral problems, exposure to life events and parent stress and mental health are independently associated, to differing degrees, with emotional or behavioral outcomes in early adulthood. Lay Summary: People with autism experience high rates of mental health difficulties throughout childhood and into adult life. Adverse life events and parental stress and mental health may contribute to poor mental health in adulthood. We used data at three time points (12-, 16-, and 23-year) to understand how these factors relate to symptoms at 23-year. We found that emotional and behavioral problems in childhood, adverse life events and parent mental health were all associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems in adulthood

Non-standard errors

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants

Prevalence of restless legs syndrome among psychiatric patients who are under antidepressant or antipsychotic monotherapy

WOS: 000383390400009Objective: Several groups of medications, such as dopamine blockers, analgesics and antihistaminergics were associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS). Although case reports showed some significant relations, they have many methodological limitations such as co-medications or medical co-morbidities. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of RLS in patients on antidepressant (AD) or antipsychotic (AP) monotherapy. Methods: One hundred and ninety-seven patients and 150 healthy controls were included in the study. RLS was diagnosed according to the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) criteria. The severity of RLS was evaluated according to IRLSSG rating scale. Participants diagnosed with RLS went under further neurological and psychiatric investigation for excluding secondary causes. Results: One hundred and twenty patients (60.9%) were on AD therapy, while 77 patients (39.1%) were on AP monotherapy. Thirty-two patients (16.2%) and seven controls (4.7%) were diagnosed with RLS according to IRLSSG criteria. The most frequent cause of RLS was quetiapine (28.5%) in the antipsychotic group and paroxetine (22.2%) in the antidepressant group. There was no statistically significant correlation between drug usage duration and RLS severity. Conclusion: AD or AP induced RLS is a common condition. ADs and APs should be considered as a cause for RLS when assesing RLS in psychiatric patients who are under treatment either of these medications