In the present study, we sought to examine whether face recognition problems impact the social anxiety experienced by autistic people. Many autistic people -- perhaps between 15% and 30% -- exhibit severe face recognition problems that closely resemble developmental prosopagnosia. At present, however, little is known about the psychosocial…

Objective: ADHD symptoms are highly prevalent among university students. These symptoms, particularly the inattentive cluster, predispose students to poorer academic performance and worse academic adjustment. Moreover, ADHD symptoms are often comorbid with other common mental disorders; this comorbidity also leads to poor outcomes. South African…

Children with ASD are more likely to be involved in bullying compared to typically developing peers; however, studies rarely examine bullying perpetration and the contributing factors among this population. The primary aim of this study was to examine the extent to which parent-reported ASD symptoms, social skills, and comorbid externalizing and…

High alexithymic traits and psychiatric comorbidities such as depression and social phobia are frequently observed among adults with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we tested whether alexithymic and/or autistic traits are risk factors for depressive and social phobic symptoms in adults with autism spectrum disorder (n = 122), patients…

Social communication and executive functioning challenges as well as co-occurring anxiety/depression may make acquiring the skills needed to manage daily life tasks difficult for diploma-track autistic youth, thus limiting their participation in adult roles. This study describes the associations between executive function, social communication…

Autism spectrum disorder and anxiety are highly comorbid conditions. Understanding the underlying traits of anxiety in autism spectrum disorder is crucial to prevent and treat it efficiently. Hence, this study determined whether social communication difficulties or restricted repetitive behaviors are stronger risk factors for anxiety symptoms in…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly comorbid among children and adolescents with a history of maltreatment and trauma. This comorbidity is linked to increased symptom severity and poor academic and social outcomes. Such negative outcomes are shown to have further negative outcomes…

We investigated the presentation and correlates of hoarding behaviors in 204 children aged 7-13 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and comorbid anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Approximately 34% of the sample presented at least moderate levels, and with 7% presenting severe to extreme levels of hoarding. Child gender…

Although executive functioning (EF) difficulties are well documented among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), little is known about real-world measures of EF among adults with ASD. Therefore, this study examined parent-reported real-world EF problems among 35 adults with ASD without intellectual disability and their…

Samson et al. ("Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders" 41:475-483, 2011) conducted the first empirical investigation examining the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) and its prevalence in individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (hfASD). The present research examined gelotophobia in relation to social…

The present study used data from a randomized controlled trial on brief interventions with adolescents to identify distinct longitudinal patterns of substance use and identify predictors, as well as outcomes associated with those use patterns. Data were originally collected for the purpose of evaluating two brief intervention conditions with…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety frequently co-occur. Research on the phenomenology and treatment of anxiety in ASD is expanding, but is hampered by the lack of instruments validated for this population. This study evaluated the self- and parent-reported Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale in…

Background: In individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 70-90 % have at least one comorbid non-PTSD disorder. Objective: This study tested several hypotheses to untangle comorbidity issues. Following McMillen et al. ("Compr Psychiatry" 43(6):478-485, 2002), we hypothesized that few non-PTSD disorders would arise following…

Demographic and clinical factors may influence assessment of autism symptoms. This study evaluated these correlates and also examined whether social communication and interaction and restricted/repetitive behavior provided unique prediction of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. We analyzed data from 7352 siblings included in the Interactive…

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at high risk for co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Previous research has suggested that restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRB) are associated with symptoms of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in individuals with ASD, but this relationship is not well understood. The current study…