Bridging the gap: unveiling key links between autism and anxiety symptoms in autistic children and youth using a network analysis in pooled data from four countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Autistic children experience significantly higher rates of anxiety compared to nonautistic children. The precise relations between autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms remain unclear in this population. Previous work has explored associations at the domain level, which involve examining broad categories or clusters of symptoms, rather than the relationships between specific symptoms and/or individual characteristics. We addressed this gap by taking a network approach to understand the shared structure of autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms.

Method

Data were pooled from five studies from Canada, Singapore, the UK, and the USA, totaling 623 autistic children (17% female sex; aged 6-18 years), for whom the parent-report Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

SUBMITTER: Zaidman-Zait A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12573069 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature