The relationship between autism spectrum disorders and anxiety: The moderating effect of communication
Section snippets
Anxiety and communication in typical children
In the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, Kessler et al. (2005) estimated a prevalence rate of 28.8% for all anxiety disorders. With such elevated prevalence rates, anxiety is becoming an increasing concern for the typically developing population, and it is important to understand the contribution that different variables such as communication may have to the presence of anxiety disorders. In addition, anxiety frequently co-occurs with deficits in communication within the typical
Anxiety and communication in children with autism spectrum disorders
Impairment in communication (i.e., deficits in communication skills) is one of the three core features required for diagnosis of an ASD (APA, 2000, Kanner, 1943, Matson, 2007). Furthermore, deficits in communication are typically among the first warning signs that a child may not be developing on track (Howlin & Moore, 1997) and children with ASD show greater communication deficits than those with other forms of developmental delay (Matson, Fodstad, Hess, & Neal, 2009). It is estimated that
Present study
Given the previous research findings concerning communication deficits and anxiety, this article aimed to examine whether or not there are fundamental differences in the effects of communication deficits on anxiety levels in children with ASDs compared to typical children. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) typical children would experience greater anxiety as their communication deficits increased; however, (2) children with ASDs would experience less anxiety as their communication
Participants
Ninety-nine children and adolescents diagnosed with an ASD or determined to be typically developing served as participants. Participants with an ASD were further divided into those with autistic disorder or Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS; see Section 4.3). Study recruitment was conducted via outpatient clinics, schools, and community organizations throughout the United States as part of a larger ASD study. Participants for the current study ranged in age
Preliminary analyses
Preliminary analyses were performed to examine if verbal communication (communication deficits) from the ASD-DC, anxiety level created as described from the ASD-CC, and diagnostic group differed due to the demographic variables age, gender, and ethnicity. Categorical variables were tested using chi-square tests and continuous data were explored utilizing one-way ANOVAs. There were no significant differences for ethnicity or age. Significant differences were found for gender among each of the
Discussion
While other studies have found differences among anxiety symptoms and various ASDs (e.g., Davis, Fodstad, et al., 2010), this is the first study to describe the interaction of autistic disorder, PDD-NOS, and no diagnosis with communication deficits leading to different amounts of anxiety. Consistent with the extant literature (Beitchman et al., 2001, Blood et al., 2007, Cantwell and Baker, 1987), communication deficits interacted with diagnostic group to predict higher anxiety, however, only
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