Elsevier

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Volume 5, Issue 1, January–March 2011, Pages 112-118
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Anxiety symptoms across the lifespan in people diagnosed with Autistic Disorder

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2010.02.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Symptoms of psychiatric disorders have been found to co-occur at high rates in those diagnosed with Autistic Disorder (AD). However, to date, no study has yet examined the developmental trajectory of comorbid psychiatric symptoms across the lifespan within the AD population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a cross-sectional investigation of symptoms of anxiety across the lifespan, using a sample of individuals diagnosed with AD. This study utilizes a sample with an age range from infancy to adulthood. Endorsement rates of overlapping anxiety symptoms from measures that have been found reliable and valid for the specific purpose of examining psychiatric symptoms within the AD population are utilized for this study. Results indicate that there is a significant difference between different age cohorts on symptom endorsements of anxiety. Additionally, a cubic trend was found when examining the pattern of anxiety symptoms across the lifespan in those diagnosed with AD. That is, anxiety rises from toddlerhood to childhood, decreases from childhood to young adulthood, but again increases from young adulthood into older adulthood. Implications of these findings, limitations of this study, and future directions for research are discussed.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants in this study included 131 toddlers (ages 17–36 months; the toddler group), children (ages 3–16 years; the child group), and adults (ages 20–65 years) diagnosed with AD. Due to the large age range of the adult participants, these individuals were divided into two groups based on a median split of age (M = 48 years). Those individuals at the median and below were classified as the young adult group (ages 20–48 years) and those above the median were reclassified as the adult group

Results

A MANCOVA was utilized to assess differences between the toddler, child, young adult, and adult groups on the five overlapping anxiety items with the presence or absence of an intellectual disability as the covariate. The resulting omnibus effect was significant, F(15,337) = 2.87, p < .01, Wilks λ = .72. Subsequent inspection of the univariate analyses revealed that the items “sudden, rapid, repetitive movements not associated with a physical disability;” “persistent or reoccurring impulses that

Discussion

Findings from this study are suggestive of several changes in the symptoms and severity of anxiety across the age groups of participants with AD in the current study. Interestingly, symptoms seem to roughly mimic expected developmental milestones, though at a slower pace than that seen in typically developing children. Specifically, it has been argued that the development of anxiety mirrors the cognitive-developmental gains seen in typically developing children with anxiety—as children move

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