Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders

Debbie Spain; Francesca Happé; Patrick Johnston; Malcolm Campbell; Jacqueline Sin; Eileen Daly; Christine Ecker; Martin Anson; Eddie Chaplin; Karen Glaser; Andreina Mendez; Karina Lovell; Declan G. Murphy; Patrick Johnston; Malcolm Campbell; Martin Anson; Karina Lovell; AIMS Consortium MRC AIMS Consortium; Eddie Chaplin

doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders

Debbie Spain, Francesca Happé, Patrick Johnston, Malcolm Campbell, Jacqueline Sin, Eileen Daly, Christine Ecker, Martin Anson, Eddie Chaplin, Karen Glaser, Andreina Mendez, Karina Lovell, Declan G. Murphy, Patrick Johnston, Malcolm Campbell, Martin Anson, Karina Lovell, AIMS Consortium MRC AIMS Consortium, Eddie Chaplin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

246 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background Psychiatric conditions, notably anxiety, commonly co-occur with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method This study investigated self-reported behavioural, cognitive and affective symptoms of social anxiety (SA) in 50 adult males with ASD. Associations between SA, core ASD symptoms and facets of neuropsychological functioning were also examined. Results Twenty-six participants (52%) endorsed levels of SA that exceeded the suggested caseness threshold for social anxiety disorder. Categorical and dimensional data analyses indicated that there were no relationships between SA symptoms, present-state or childhood ASD symptom-severity, or measures of socio-emotional processing in this sample. Conclusions Study findings suggest that severity of SA is not merely a reflection of ASD symptom-severity. Further research is needed to ascertain the prevalence of SA in adult ASD epidemiological samples, and identify causal and maintaining mechanisms for these co-morbid symptoms.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	13-23
Number of pages	11
Journal	Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders
Volume	32
Early online date	16 Sept 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002
Publication status	Published - Dec 2016

Keywords

Autism spectrum
Social anxiety
Social phobia
Adults
Self-report questionnaires

Access to Document

10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

Social anxiety in adult males_SPAIN_Accepted3August2016_GREEN AAMAccepted author manuscript, 500 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

Spain, D., Happé, F., Johnston, P., Campbell, M., Sin, J., Daly, E., Ecker, C., Anson, M., Chaplin, E., Glaser, K., Mendez, A., Lovell, K., Murphy, D. G., Johnston, P., Campbell, M., Anson, M., Lovell, K., MRC AIMS Consortium, AIMS. C., & Chaplin, E. (2016). Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 32, 13-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

@article{94b0d502d4ec4fee9124abc69e265662,

title = "Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders",

abstract = "Background Psychiatric conditions, notably anxiety, commonly co-occur with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method This study investigated self-reported behavioural, cognitive and affective symptoms of social anxiety (SA) in 50 adult males with ASD. Associations between SA, core ASD symptoms and facets of neuropsychological functioning were also examined. Results Twenty-six participants (52%) endorsed levels of SA that exceeded the suggested caseness threshold for social anxiety disorder. Categorical and dimensional data analyses indicated that there were no relationships between SA symptoms, present-state or childhood ASD symptom-severity, or measures of socio-emotional processing in this sample. Conclusions Study findings suggest that severity of SA is not merely a reflection of ASD symptom-severity. Further research is needed to ascertain the prevalence of SA in adult ASD epidemiological samples, and identify causal and maintaining mechanisms for these co-morbid symptoms.",

keywords = "Autism spectrum, Social anxiety, Social phobia, Adults, Self-report questionnaires",

author = "Debbie Spain and Francesca Happ{\'e} and Patrick Johnston and Malcolm Campbell and Jacqueline Sin and Eileen Daly and Christine Ecker and Martin Anson and Eddie Chaplin and Karen Glaser and Andreina Mendez and Karina Lovell and Murphy, {Declan G.} and Patrick Johnston and Malcolm Campbell and Martin Anson and Karina Lovell and {MRC AIMS Consortium}, {AIMS Consortium} and Eddie Chaplin",

year = "2016",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "13--23",

journal = "Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders",

issn = "1750-9467",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

Spain, D , Happé, F , Johnston, P, Campbell, M, Sin, J , Daly, E , Ecker, C , Anson, M , Chaplin, E , Glaser, K, Mendez, A, Lovell, K, Murphy, DG , Johnston, P, Campbell, M, Anson, M, Lovell, K, MRC AIMS Consortium, AIMSC & Chaplin, E 2016, 'Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders', Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol. 32, pp. 13-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders

AU - Spain, Debbie

AU - Happé, Francesca

AU - Johnston, Patrick

AU - Campbell, Malcolm

AU - Sin, Jacqueline

AU - Daly, Eileen

AU - Ecker, Christine

AU - Anson, Martin

AU - Chaplin, Eddie

AU - Glaser, Karen

AU - Mendez, Andreina

AU - Lovell, Karina

AU - Murphy, Declan G.

AU - Johnston, Patrick

AU - Campbell, Malcolm

AU - Anson, Martin

AU - Lovell, Karina

AU - MRC AIMS Consortium, AIMS Consortium

AU - Chaplin, Eddie

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - Background Psychiatric conditions, notably anxiety, commonly co-occur with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method This study investigated self-reported behavioural, cognitive and affective symptoms of social anxiety (SA) in 50 adult males with ASD. Associations between SA, core ASD symptoms and facets of neuropsychological functioning were also examined. Results Twenty-six participants (52%) endorsed levels of SA that exceeded the suggested caseness threshold for social anxiety disorder. Categorical and dimensional data analyses indicated that there were no relationships between SA symptoms, present-state or childhood ASD symptom-severity, or measures of socio-emotional processing in this sample. Conclusions Study findings suggest that severity of SA is not merely a reflection of ASD symptom-severity. Further research is needed to ascertain the prevalence of SA in adult ASD epidemiological samples, and identify causal and maintaining mechanisms for these co-morbid symptoms.

AB - Background Psychiatric conditions, notably anxiety, commonly co-occur with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method This study investigated self-reported behavioural, cognitive and affective symptoms of social anxiety (SA) in 50 adult males with ASD. Associations between SA, core ASD symptoms and facets of neuropsychological functioning were also examined. Results Twenty-six participants (52%) endorsed levels of SA that exceeded the suggested caseness threshold for social anxiety disorder. Categorical and dimensional data analyses indicated that there were no relationships between SA symptoms, present-state or childhood ASD symptom-severity, or measures of socio-emotional processing in this sample. Conclusions Study findings suggest that severity of SA is not merely a reflection of ASD symptom-severity. Further research is needed to ascertain the prevalence of SA in adult ASD epidemiological samples, and identify causal and maintaining mechanisms for these co-morbid symptoms.

KW - Autism spectrum

KW - Social anxiety

KW - Social phobia

KW - Adults

KW - Self-report questionnaires

U2 - 10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

DO - 10.1016/j.rasd.2016.08.002

M3 - Article

SN - 1750-9467

VL - 32

SP - 13

EP - 23

JO - Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders

JF - Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders

ER -

Social anxiety in adult males with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this