@article{0a532f9225664d3e88c8ab9c56f29845,
title = "Understanding the heterogeneity of anxiety in autistic youth: A person-centered approach",
abstract = "The present study aimed to examine anxiety profiles among children and adolescents on the autism spectrum. It further aimed to characterize the association between the identified anxiety profiles and key clinical and developmental variables. The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale-Parent Version (SCAS-P) data from a large international pooled sample of 870 caregivers of autistic children and adolescents (Mage = 11.6 years, SDage = 2.77; 107 females) was used. Latent profile analysis identified a three-anxiety profile solution exhibiting high entropy (0.80) and high latent profile probabilities, with good classification accuracy. Identified profiles fell along the severity spectrum and were named as the mild (n = 498), moderate (n = 272) and severe (n = 100) anxiety profiles. There were no statistically significant differences between the three anxiety profiles in terms of sex distribution. Participants in the mild profile were significantly younger than those in the severe profile, had significantly fewer social communication difficulties than youth in the moderate anxiety profile group and had significantly fewer restricted and repetitive behaviors and lower cognitive functioning scores compared to participants in moderate and severe anxiety profiles. This is the first study to move beyond identifying associations and group-level differences to exploring and identifying characteristics of anxiety-based subgroups at an individual level that differ on key clinical and developmental variables. The subgroups identified in this study are a preliminary, yet important, first step towards informing future assessment and individualized interventions aiming to support young people on the autism spectrum to reduce and manage anxiety. Lay Summary: This study tried to understand if there are subgroups of autistic young people who may have similar anxiety profiles. We found that we could meaningfully group young people into three groups based on how severe the anxiety symptoms their caregivers reported were: a group with low levels of anxiety, those with moderate anxiety, and those with more severe anxiety. We also found that the young people in the mild group were younger, had fewer autism traits and lower levels of intellectual functioning than young people in the other two groups.",
keywords = "anxiety, autism, individual differences, latent profile analysis, subtyping",
author = "Emily Spackman and Lerh, {Jian Wei} and Jacqui Rodgers and Hollocks, {Matthew J.} and Mikle South and Helen McConachie and Ann Ozsivadjian and {Vaughan Van Hecke}, Amy and Robin Libove and Hardan, {Antonio Y.} and Leekam, {Susan R.} and Emily Simonoff and Frazier, {Thomas W.} and Alvares, {Gail A.} and Schwartzman, {Jessica M.} and Iliana Magiati and Mirko Uljarevi{\'c}",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank all the caregivers and families, schools and clinics, and participants and staff involved in all studies and countries. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: In terms of funding support of the original studies included in the pooled database, and in no particular order, Study 1 includes data from independent research commissioned by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under the Research for Patient Benefit programme (PB‐PG‐0408‐16069) and data collected by Dr. Janes and Dr. Connolly as part of doctoral theses for the qualification of Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Studies 2 and 5 are grateful to the Database of Children with ASD Living in the North East of England ( www.daslne.org ) for assistance with recruitment. Daslne is funded by the UK autism research charity Autistica and by The Children's Foundation. Studies 4 and 5 were supported by funding provided by Northumbria, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust awarded to Dr. Jacqui Rodgers. Study 3 was commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under the Research for Patient Benefit programme (PB‐PG‐0408‐16069). Study 6 was supported through a PhD studentship awarded to Dr. N. Darus by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia. Study 7 was supported by a Start‐up grant awarded to Dr. I. Magiati from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Study 8 was funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) in Mental Health (grant code: PCCKASA) and the South London and Maudsley Charitable Funds (awarded to Prof. E. Simonoff). Study 9 was supported by the Charles Hawkins Fund. Study 10 was supported by a PhD studentship from the Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care, National Institute for Social Care and Health Research, awarded to Dr. M. Uljarevic and a project grant from the Baily Thomas Charitable Fund awarded to Prof. S. Leekam. The data collection was carried out at Cardiff University by Dr. M. Uljarevic and by Dr. J. Lidstone. Study 11 was supported by grants from Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, the Mosbacher Family Fund for Autism Research, The Escher Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Stanford University's Child Health Research Institute. Study 12 was supported by grants from the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH), through grant number 8KL2TR000056 to Dr. A. Van Hecke. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH, NHS, NIHR, or Department of Health. Funding Information: We would like to thank all the caregivers and families, schools and clinics, and participants and staff involved in all studies and countries. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: In terms of funding support of the original studies included in the pooled database, and in no particular order, Study 1 includes data from independent research commissioned by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under the Research for Patient Benefit programme (PB-PG-0408-16069) and data collected by Dr. Janes and Dr. Connolly as part of doctoral theses for the qualification of Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Studies 2 and 5 are grateful to the Database of Children with ASD Living in the North East of England (www.daslne.org) for assistance with recruitment. Daslne is funded by the UK autism research charity Autistica and by The Children's Foundation. Studies 4 and 5 were supported by funding provided by Northumbria, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust awarded to Dr. Jacqui Rodgers. Study 3 was commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under the Research for Patient Benefit programme (PB-PG-0408-16069). Study 6 was supported through a PhD studentship awarded to Dr. N. Darus by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia. Study 7 was supported by a Start-up grant awarded to Dr. I. Magiati from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Study 8 was funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) in Mental Health (grant code: PCCKASA) and the South London and Maudsley Charitable Funds (awarded to Prof. E. Simonoff). Study 9 was supported by the Charles Hawkins Fund. Study 10 was supported by a PhD studentship from the Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care, National Institute for Social Care and Health Research, awarded to Dr. M. Uljarevic and a project grant from the Baily Thomas Charitable Fund awarded to Prof. S. Leekam. The data collection was carried out at Cardiff University by Dr. M. Uljarevic and by Dr. J. Lidstone. Study 11 was supported by grants from Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, the Mosbacher Family Fund for Autism Research, The Escher Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Stanford University's Child Health Research Institute. Study 12 was supported by grants from the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH), through grant number 8KL2TR000056 to Dr. A. Van Hecke. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH, NHS, NIHR, or Department of Health. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.",
year = "2022",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1002/aur.2744",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
pages = "1742--1754",
journal = "Autism research",
issn = "1939-3792",
publisher = "John Wiley & Sons, Ltd",
number = "9",
}