Elsevier

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Volume 12, Issue 4, July–August 1998, Pages 387-393
Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Comorbid Anxiety Symptoms in Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00022-XGet rights and content

Abstract

The present study examined the prevalence of comorbid anxiety symptoms in 44 children with pervasive developmental disorders. Parents of the children were interviewed using the Anxiety Disorders section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Results indicated that severe anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent in children with pervasive developmental disorders: 84.1% of the children met the full criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Furthermore, 72.7% of the children displayed ritualistic behaviors. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Section snippets

Method

Participants were 59 children from the database (1993, 1994, and 1995) of the Centre of Autism South-Limburg, the Netherlands. These children had undergone extensive psychodiagnostic and psychiatric screening and were classified on the basis of DSM-III-R criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) as either having AD or “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified” (PDDNOS). Diagnoses had been made by the specialized, multidisciplinary team of professionals of the Centre of

Results

The average interview lasted for 63.3 minutes (SD = 23.2, range = 30–120). In most cases, the mother provided information on the anxiety symptoms of the child (n = 31). In other cases, both parents (n = 9), the father (n = 1), the grandmother (n = 1), or the social worker of the institution in which the child resided (n = 2) were interviewed.

Table 1 shows the number (percentage) of children who fulfilled DSM-III-R criteria for the separate anxiety disorders. On the whole, 37 of 44 PDD children

Discussion

Given the paucity of research on anxiety symptoms in autism, the current study examined the prevalence of comorbid anxiety symptoms in a sample of PDD children. The main results can be summarized as follows. First, severe anxiety symptoms were highly prevalent among these children. That is, 84.1% met the full DSM-III-R criteria of at least one anxiety disorder. Second, 72.7% of the PDD children exhibited ritualistic behaviors.

Percentages of PDD children who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for

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