Characterising the relationship between theory of mind and anxiety in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing children

Jiedi Lei; Pamela Ventola

doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2018.01.005

Characterising the relationship between theory of mind and anxiety in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing children

Jiedi Lei, Pamela Ventola

Department of Psychology

Yale University

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

15 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Background: Social communication impairments associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a multi-faceted phenomenon that encapsulates a broad range of skills with Theory of Mind (ToM) as a key component. Early Theory of Mind (ToM) skills, such as joint attention, typically develop during infancy and provide a foundation for the co-emergence of affect regulation via social referencing. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate delays and impairments in the development of ToM, and up to 40% of children with ASD also experience co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and poor affect regulation. Method: Using parent report, this cross-sectional study aimed to characterise the relationship between ToM competency and anxiety, and explore how specific ToM deficits may confer vulnerability to anxiety in children (4–8 years old) with ASD. Results: Early ToM skills, such as joint attention and social referencing, mediated the relationship between broader social communication impairments and anxiety symptom severity in children with ASD. Conclusions: Increasing competency of early ToM skills might provide additional therapeutic benefits for clinical interventions targeting anxiety in children with ASD.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-12
Number of pages	12
Journal	Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Volume	49
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2018.01.005
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2018

Funding

Funding for this study came from Autism Science Foundation, Simons Foundation ( #383661 ), Women’s Health Research at Yale University ( #1087045 ), Deitz Family, Esme Usdan and Family, Schmid Family, and Dwek Family to PV for interpreting the data and writing the manuscript. We wish to thank the families of the children included in this study for their time and participation, as well as the research assistants in our lab, making this research possible.

Keywords

Anxiety
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Joint attention
Theory of Mind (ToM)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.rasd.2018.01.005

Cite this

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abstract = "Background: Social communication impairments associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a multi-faceted phenomenon that encapsulates a broad range of skills with Theory of Mind (ToM) as a key component. Early Theory of Mind (ToM) skills, such as joint attention, typically develop during infancy and provide a foundation for the co-emergence of affect regulation via social referencing. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate delays and impairments in the development of ToM, and up to 40% of children with ASD also experience co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and poor affect regulation. Method: Using parent report, this cross-sectional study aimed to characterise the relationship between ToM competency and anxiety, and explore how specific ToM deficits may confer vulnerability to anxiety in children (4–8 years old) with ASD. Results: Early ToM skills, such as joint attention and social referencing, mediated the relationship between broader social communication impairments and anxiety symptom severity in children with ASD. Conclusions: Increasing competency of early ToM skills might provide additional therapeutic benefits for clinical interventions targeting anxiety in children with ASD.",

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Characterising the relationship between theory of mind and anxiety in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing children

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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