Understanding the Contributions of Trait Autism and Anxiety to Extreme Demand Avoidance in the Adult General Population.
Rhianna White, Lucy A Livingston, Emily C Taylor and 3 others
PMID 35437676WHAT IT FOUND
Anxiety consistently predicted extreme demand avoidance traits in adults.
In the larger second study, autistic traits were equally important. These are self-reported traits in the general population, not clinical diagnoses.
Key findings
01In the first study, anxiety was the dominant predictor of demand avoidance traits, significantly stronger than autistic traits.
02In the second, larger study, autistic traits and anxiety were comparably important predictors of demand avoidance.
03The authors suggest anxiety-reducing approaches may be useful for managing demand avoidance behaviours.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The studies used self-report questionnaires in the general population, not clinical samples, so results may not apply to diagnosed individuals. The EDA-QA measure may overlap conceptually with autism and oppositional defiant disorder, making it hard to separate these conditions. The design is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether anxiety causes demand avoidance or vice versa. Study 2 was conducted during the pandemic, which may have influenced mental health symptoms, though the authors found no direct link to demand avoidance.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Whorrod Foundation. No specific conflicts of interest are declared in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these findings as evidence that extreme demand avoidance is caused by anxiety or that it is a distinct clinical condition. The studies measured self-reported traits in the general population, not diagnosed patients, and the cross-sectional design cannot prove causation.