Depressive Disorders in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder With and Without Intellectual Disability

Abstract

The research objectives were determined in identifying the prevalence rates of depressive disorders (Major and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorders) among children with autism spectrum disorder, and Identifying the difference in depressive disorder (major and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder) among children with autism spectrum disorder according to the variables of intellectual disability (accompanied and unaccompanied) and age (6,10) years.
 To achieve the objectives of the current research, the two researchers prepared two scales for depression disorders, according to (DSM-5), and then extracted the appropriate psychometric properties for them (item analysis, validity, and reliability). These two scales were applied to a sample of (380) male and female children with autism, (292) male and (88) female, distributed among (8) governmental and private rehabilitation centers in the governorates of (Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, and Dohuk), chosen by the intentional method. The results indicated that there is a difference in the prevalence of depressive disorders according to the accompanying intellectual disability in favor of autistic people who are not associated with intellectual disability, and a significant difference in the two depressive disorders according to the age variable in favor of the autistic at the age of (10) years, according to the supervisors’ questionnaire, and this was not the case according to the parents’ questionnaire. And there is an effect of a significant interaction between the variables of intellectual disability (accompanied and unaccompanied) and age (6,10) years, in the disruptive mooddysregulation disorder according to the questionnaire of parents and supervisors, in favor of the autistic people who are not associated with intellectual disability at the age of (10) years.