Citation

Hochard KD, Pendrous R, Mari T, Flynn S. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10803-020-04405-7

PMID

32086693

Abstract

Short sleep duration is a known risk factor for suicidality in the general population, yet it is unclear how short sleep interacts with autism traits in predicting suicidality. In this cross-sectional online study, a general population sample (N = 650) completed measures assessing autism traits, suicidal ideation, and sleep duration. Moderated hierarchical regressions demonstrated that higher autism traits and shorter sleep were independent predictors of increased suicide ideation. However, sleep duration did not significantly moderate the autism trait to suicide ideation relationship. Future work should explore this relationship longitudinally using objective measures before considering intervention work to increase sleep duration in those with elevated autism traits.

Language: en

Keywords

Autism; Autism trait; Sleep duration; Suicide ideation