This project will investigate the role of the social and physical environment in the development of internalising problems (i.e., anxiety and depression) in autistic young people (AYP), thereby contributing new insights to inform prevention and treatment. Internalising problems are common in autistic people, with a lifetime prevalence around four times that of non-autistic people. They typically arise by adolescence, persist across the lifespan and have substantial negative effects on wellbeing, functioning, physical health and mortality. The need for work that informs care for internalising problems has been highlighted by the autism community as their top priority for autism research. This reflects the fact that evidence-based interventions for autistic internalising problems are lacking because, currently, our understanding of how and why these difficulties develop and persist is limited. In particular, we lack understanding of how features of the social and physical environment influence the development of internalising problems of AYP.

Across the whole project, we take an ecological approach to understanding the development of internalizing problems in AYP. We seek to understand the development of mental health problems by modelling the dynamic interplay of environmental and personal factors and elucidating how diverse factors at different levels operate over time.

By enhancing understanding of autistic mental health, the study will help improve the wellbeing and life chances of autistic people by informing the development of interventions to treat and prevent their mental health problems. Our focus on environmental risk is especially likely to yield practical results, as it promises the identification of modifiable risk factors (e.g., parenting, peer victimisation, neighbourhood built environment) as putative targets for intervention.