IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0318408.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Early detection of anxiety symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An exploratory study in a Spanish sample of 3–6 year old children

Author

Listed:
  • Montserrat Durán-Bouza
  • Silvia Gómez-Ríos
  • Margarita Cañadas-Pérez
  • Juan-Carlos Brenlla-Blanco

Abstract

Current research often overlooks anxiety symptoms in preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), focusing on older children. This study examines anxiety symptomatology primarily in young children with ASD by analyzing data from 82 Spanish children aged 3- to 6 years. Parents completed the Anxiety Scale for Children with ASD and the Social Communication Questionnaire. Results indicate that 30.48% of the children exhibit significant anxiety symptoms, “with anxious uncertainty” being the most prevalent. Factor analysis reveals three principal components of the Anxiety Scale, supporting its reliability. Regression analysis highlights stereotypical behaviors as significant predictors of anxiety levels. These findings underscore the importance of early assessment and adaptation of assessment tools for preschoolers with ASD. Stereotypical behaviors are identified as key predictors of anxiety in this population.

Suggested Citation

  • Montserrat Durán-Bouza & Silvia Gómez-Ríos & Margarita Cañadas-Pérez & Juan-Carlos Brenlla-Blanco, 2025. "Early detection of anxiety symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An exploratory study in a Spanish sample of 3–6 year old children," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0318408
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0318408
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0318408
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0318408&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0318408?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:plo:pone00:0085268 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0318408. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.