The Relationship Between Intolerance of Uncertainty, Sensory Sensitivities, and Anxiety in Autistic and Typically Developing Children

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 1962 - 1973
• Main Authors: Neil, Louise, Olsson, Nora Choque, Pellicano, Elizabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Anxiety; Anxiety - complications; Anxiety - psychology; Anxiety Disorders; Archives & records; Autism; Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - complications; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Child Development - physiology; Children; Clinical psychology; Cognitive ability; Demographic aspects; English language; Female; Foreign Countries; Humans; Intolerance; Investigations; Likert Scales; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Parents; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Predictor Variables; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Public Health; Questionnaires; Risk factors; Sensation Disorders - complications; Sensation Disorders - psychology; Sensory disorders; Sensory Experience; Sensory perception; Sensory stimulation; Social aspects; Uncertainty; United Kingdom; Wechsler Intelligence Scales Short Forms; United Kingdom; Australia; Sweden; United Kingdom > UK; Intolerance of uncertainty; Sensory sensitivities; Anxiety
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2721-9

Guided by a recent theory that proposes fundamental differences in how autistic individuals deal with uncertainty, we investigated the extent to which the cognitive construct ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ and anxiety were related to parental reports of sensory sensitivities in 64 autistic and 85 typically developing children aged 6–14 years. Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety explained approximately half the variance in autistic children’s sensory sensitivities, but only around a fifth of the variance in typical children’s sensory sensitivities. In children with autism only, intolerance of uncertainty remained a significant predictor of children’s sensory sensitivities once the effects of anxiety were adjusted for. Our results suggest intolerance of uncertainty is a relevant construct to sensory sensitivities in children with and without autism.