Conclusions
autistic traits, anxiety, ’ autistic traits, social behaviors, autistic, depression

The ACAT program is effective in improving autistic adolescents’ self-awareness of autistic traits, and it can help parents/guardians understand their adolescents’ autistic traits. It also helps improve general mental health and reduce treatment stigma in autistic adolescents. Although we did not observe significant effects on depression and social adaptation for autistic adolescents and treatment stigma, mental health, and parenting resilience for parents/guardians, the ACAT program was useful for improving parent-child communication and an understanding of children’s autistic traits. The effect on parents/guardians was less than that on adolescents. Therefore, improving the intervention for parents/guardians should be considered in the future. Further longitudinal longer-term trials are needed to determine whether the ACAT program can enhance adaptive social behaviors and prevent subsequent mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, for both autistic children and their parents/guardians.