Exploring anxiety in decision-making, in young people with
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

 

We have now finished data collection and are looking at our findings. We have lots of data to look through and are still in the process of doing this, but we do have some initial findings that we would like to share with you.

What was the project about?
This study aimed to develop methods to identify factors which may contribute to anxiety in young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Finding out what may underlie the tendency for young people with ASD to develop anxiety could provide a foundation for creating interventions to reduce symptoms of anxiety. In total 46 families took part with children aged between 8 and 16 years old. We are also working with a research team from Brigham Young University in Utah, USA, who are using the same methods as us, so we will be able to compare and combine our results with them. About half of the children who took part have a diagnosis of ASD and half do not. We are especially interested in whether the links between thoughts, feeling and behaviours are the same in young people with ASD as they are in those without ASD.

What have we found so far?
We found that the young people with ASD were very good at a decision making game, in fact on average they outperformed our participants who do not have ASD. As well as looking at how well the young people played, we were also interested in how the participants approached the game and the kinds of information that they took into account whilst playing. Using the data gathered from the wristbands the young people wore whilst playing (which provided us with information about their emotional responses to the game) we found that young people with ASD do not use information about their feelings to guide them in making choices in the same way that other young people do. For this particular game, this seemed to be helpful to the young people with ASD, allowing them to be logical and consistent in their decisions. However, in other situations where emotional responses are important (for example, situations involving other people), this tendency may be problematic. This finding therefore helps us understand how young people with ASD approach situations in which they need to make choices and perhaps suggests ways in which we may work with young people with ASD to enable them to take emotional information into account more.

We have also gathered lots of really helpful information about anxiety in ASD from the young people and parents who gave up their time to help us. One of the goals of the study was to find out whether some of the aspects of anxiety seen in young people without ASD are present in those with ASD. If this is the case then interventions developed for anxiety in young people without ASD might be used as a basis for treatment for anxiety in ASD. We found this to be the case. This is exciting because it provides us with the basis for the development of intervention packages. Importantly though our data also highlight that there are some aspects of ASD that we must take in to account when trying to understand anxiety for these young people, most particularly the presence of sensory sensitivities and repetitive behaviours. Some of the next steps in our data analysis will explore these important relationships further. We have lots more to do to complete our analyses and this will take us some time. We have presented some of our findings at conferences, including the DASLnE Conference in Newcastle in May 2012. Our first journal paper has been submitted.

On behalf of the whole Fun and Games research team I’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to DASLnE and to the young people and their parents who helped us with the study.

Best wishes
Dr Jacqui Rodgers, C.Psychol, AFBPsS
Principal Investigator
Email: Jacqui.rodgers@ncl.ac.uk