Journal
JOURNAL OF ANXIETY DISORDERS
Volume 34, Issue -, Pages 94-99Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.06.007
Keywords
Anxiety; Autism spectrum disorder; Family accommodation; Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Categories
Funding
- All Children's Hospital Research Foundation
- University of South Florida Internal Grants Program
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Anxiety symptoms are common in youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and directly associated with symptom severity and functional impairment. Family accommodation occurs frequently among individuals with obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders; to date, no data exist on the nature and correlates of family accommodation in youth with ASD and anxiety, as well as its relationship to cognitive-behavioral therapy outcome. Forty children with ASD and a comorbid anxiety disorder participated. Clinicians administered measures of ASD and anxiety disorder caseness, anxiety symptom severity, and family accommodation; parents completed questionnaires assessing social responsiveness, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and functional impairment. A subsample of youth (n = 24) completed a course of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Family accommodation was common and positively correlated with anxiety symptom severity, but not functional impairment, general internalizing symptoms, externalizing behavior, or social responsiveness. Family accommodation decreased following cognitive-behavioral therapy with decreases in family accommodation being associated with decreases in anxiety levels. Treatment responders reported lower family accommodation frequency and lower parent impact relative to non-responders. Clinical implications of this study in assessing and psychotherapeutically treating youth with ASD and comorbid anxiety are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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