Anxiety in 3- to 7-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder seeking treatment for disruptive behavior.
Denis G Sukhodolsky, Luc Lecavalier, Cynthia Johnson and 5 others
PMID 31390873WHAT IT FOUND
Anxiety symptoms were common in 177 children with autism spectrum disorder aged 3 to 7 seeking help for disruptive behavior.
Parents most often noted social withdrawal, sleep onset fear, and avoidance; language-based worries were rare. The study did not test treatment.
Key findings
01Parent-reported anxiety scores ranged from 0 to 34 across the 16-item anxiety scale.
02Most children had two or more anxiety items rated often or very often: 66.7% had two or more, and 44.7% had three or more.
03The 50 children in the upper anxiety quartile (28%) had higher scores for oppositional behavior and social withdrawal than the 127 children below that threshold.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The children were selected from a trial for disruptive behavior, so results may not apply to all young children with autism spectrum disorder. Anxiety was measured only by parent report, and no second anxiety measure was available. The study looked at associations at one time point, so it cannot show whether anxiety caused oppositional behavior or social withdrawal. The anxiety scale included many separation anxiety items, so the findings may be driven by that symptom type. Items that rely on language were rarely endorsed, which may make standard anxiety questionnaires less useful in this group.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists NIH extramural research support. No author conflict-of-interest declaration is included.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that anxiety caused oppositional behavior or social withdrawal. The study measured variables at one time, used only parent report, and reported associations rather than treatment effects.