Does the gender matter?: Anxiety symptoms and emotion dysregulation in adults with autism and intellectual disabilities.

There was no control group, so the study cannot show a cause-and-effect relationship between emotion dysregulation and anxiety. All measures were completed by proxy therapists, not by the adults themselves, and the authors note observer evaluation of internalizing symptoms is problematic. Women were fewer than men, with 40 women and 81 men, so the female-specific finding rests on a smaller group. Twenty-nine percent of participants were nonverbal or minimally verbal, limiting assessment and the instruments that could be used. The sample came from supervised facilities in Madrid and Galicia, so results may not apply to adults with autism and intellectual disability in other settings.

Do not conclude that reducing emotion dysregulation will lower anxiety in adults with autism and intellectual disability. The study measured relationships, not an intervention, and it had no control group.