Julie Lounds Taylor, PhD

Julie Lounds Taylor, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and an investigator at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in lifespan family research at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on understanding the factors that promote positive outcomes for adults on the autism spectrum disorder and their families, particularly during the transition to adulthood.  Dr. Taylor’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, Autism Speaks, the FAR fund, and the US Department of Defense. She was the 2014 recipient of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Early Career Award, is an associate editor for Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, and has served as a member of the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee.

Ryan Adams, PhD

Dr. Adams is a social developmental psychologist who studies the adolescent social world and its impact on psychological outcomes with a particular focus on groups that have problems in their social lives, such as adolescents with ASD and obese adolescents. 

Supplementary Study received funding from the Autism Science Foundation

Dr. Zheng received funding from the Autism Science Foundation to conduct additional data collection with the SPARK study cohort to further understand mental health service changes during the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from this project will have implications on how to improve and tailor mental health services to the needs of autistic adults.

COVID-19 Study Findings Featured in Spectrum News 

"Two-thirds: The proportion of young adults with autism who reported COVID-19-related distress in the early months of the pandemic, according to a survey of 275 autistic people. Autistic women were twice as likely as autistic men to report that the pandemic had taken a toll on their mental health."

Depression in independent young adults on the autism spectrum: Demographic characteristics, service use, and barriers

Zheng, S., Adams, R., Taylor, J., Pezzimenti, F., & Bishop, S. (2021). Depression in independent young adults on the autism spectrum: Demographic characteristics, service use, and barriers. Autism. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211008276

ABSTRACT: Depression is common among adults on the autism spectrum, but little is known about the extent to which these adults living in the community access diagnostic and treatment services for depression. To address this gap, we surveyed 315 adults on the autism spectrum on depression symptoms, diagnosis, and services. About half of the sample had scores on standard depression measures that suggested they were currently depressed (n = 147, 46.7%). Among the currently depressed, most of them had received a depression diagnosis from a professional. Depressed females were about 3.5 times more likely than depressed males to have a depression diagnosis. More than half of the currently depressed adults on the autism spectrum reported receiving depression treatment at the time of the study, while about two-thirds had previously received treatment. Those with a depression diagnosis were more likely to have received treatment, and those who had some education beyond high school were more likely to be currently receiving treatment. Financial and insurance issues were the most common barriers that adults reported in accessing treatment for depression.

Ten weeks in: COVID-19-related distress in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Adams, R. E., Zheng, S., Taylor, J. L., & Bishop, S. L. (2021). Ten weeks in: COVID-19-related distress in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211005919

ABSTRACT: This study examined COVID-19-related distress among adults with autism spectrum disorder and its associations with demographic and mental health information. A sample of 275 adults (ages 18–35) in the United States, all capable of providing self-reports, was recruited from a large national registry. Adults completed online surveys of mental health symptoms just before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Two months later, they completed the same surveys of mental health symptoms, and also reported about distress they had experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly two-thirds (65.9%) endorsed some form of COVID-related distress with a little over half reporting any individual form of distress. Although depressive and anxiety symptoms did not change from Time 1 to Time 2 on average, higher levels of COVID-related distress was associated with an increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, women and those who reported higher anxiety symptoms before the pandemic were more likely to report some form of COVID-related distress. The findings suggest that as this global crisis continues to unfold, it will be critical to ensure that adults with autism spectrum disorder who were experiencing mental health challenges prior to the pandemic receive appropriate monitoring.

Perceived helpfulness of depression treatments among young adults with autism

Zheng, S., Taylor, J.L., Adams, R., Pezzimenti, F., & Bishop, S. (2021). Short report: Perceived helpfulness of depression treatments among young adults with ASD. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2515

ABSTRACT: Currently available treatments for depression show limited effectiveness in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) based on measures of symptom changes and clinician impressions. Perceived helpfulness is another metric that has been found to be useful for understanding treatment outcomes in the general population, but it has not yet been explored in adults with ASD. Thus, the current study collected online survey data to examine patient-perceived treatment helpfulness in a sample of 144 adults with ASD who reported that they were currently receiving community-based treatment for depression. Findings indicate that while there was variability in the levels of perceived helpfulness for both medication and individual therapy, most adults with ASD perceived treatment to be at least moderately helpful. Notably, adults with ASD reported having been in treatment for a prolonged duration (5 to 6 years). Ordinal logistic regression models showed that adults with more depressive symptoms perceived treatments to be less helpful (i.e., medications: odds ratio [OR] = 0.92, 95% confidence interval[CI] = 0.89–0.95; individual therapy: OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.92–0.99). Moreover, women perceived medication as more helpful than men (OR = 2.33, 95% CI = 1.13–4.82). Other individual (i.e., age, race, education level) and treatment (i.e., treatment length, concurrent treatment) characteristics were not significantly associated with perceived helpfulness. These findings suggest that future studies may want to use perceived helpfulness, in addition to traditionally used objective outcomes, to understand patients' treatment experience and evaluate depression treatments for adults with ASD.

Job loss predicts worsening depressive symptoms for young adults with autism: A COVID-19 natural experiment

Taylor, J.L., Adams, R., Pezzimenti, F., Zheng, S., & Bishop, S. (2022). Job loss predicts worsening depressive symptoms for young adults with autism: A COVID-19 natural experiment. Autism Research. 15(1):93-102. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2621

ABSTRACT: Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high rates of both unemployment and depression. Though job loss predicts increased risk of depression in the general population, studies have yet to directly examine this relationship among individuals with ASD. With the backdrop of rising unemployment due to COVID-19, we used a longitudinal design to examine whether employment changes predicted increasing depressive symptoms among young adults with ASD. Online surveys were collected from young adults with ASD at two times: just before widespread social distancing measures were adopted in the United States, and again 10 weeks later. Both time points included measurement of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-2). At Time 2, COVID-related employment changes and the perceived impact of those changes on well-being were collected. Of the young adults who were employed at Time 1 (n = 144), over one-third (37.5%) reported employment changes during the first 2 months of COVID-19. Most of this change was job loss or reductions in hours or pay ("job loss/reduction"). Controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms, young adults who experienced job loss/reduction had significantly higher depressive symptoms at Time 2 than those without an employment change. Individuals' perceived impact of employment change also predicted depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that losing a job or experiencing reductions in hours or pay leads to worsening depressive symptoms among adults with ASD. Better supporting autistic adults in the workplace may not only decrease the likelihood of job loss, but also combat the exceedingly high rates of depression in this group.