Anxiety and social worries in children with Asperger syndrome

Russell, Emily
Sofronoff, Kate

Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Sofronoff)
Psychologist, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Russell)

Kate Sofronoff, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. (Correspondence); Email: [email protected]

Received 19 March 2004; revised 22 November 2004; accepted 6 December 2004.

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 39(7):p 633-638, July 2005.

Objective

The current study examined anxiety and social worries in a group of children with Asperger syndrome (AS).

Method

Sixty-five children with AS were compared with a clinically anxious sample and a normative sample using parent and child reports.

Results

Comparisons between clinically anxious children and children with AS showed similar scores on overall anxiety and on six anxiety subscales using child reports. Parent reports revealed higher ratings of overall anxiety and described children with AS experiencing more obsessive–compulsive symptoms and physical injury fears than clinically anxious children.

Conclusions

Children with AS without a diagnosis of anxiety, present with more anxiety symptoms than a normal population and with a different profile than a clinically anxious population. Study limitations are identified and considerations for future research presented.