Abstract
Pathological (“extreme”) demand avoidance (PDA) involves obsessively avoiding routine demands and extreme emotional variability. It is clinically linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The observer-rated EDA Questionnaire (EDA-Q) for children was adapted as an adult self-report (EDA-QA), and tested in relation to personality and the short-form Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ). Study 1 (n = 347) found the EDA-QA reliable, univariate, and correlated with negative affect, antagonism, disinhibition, psychoticism, and ASQ scores. Study 2 (n = 191) found low agreeableness, greater Emotional Instability, and higher scores on the full ASQ predicted EDA-QA. PDA can screened for using this tool, occurs in the general population, and is associated with extremes of personality. Future studies will examine if PDA occurs in other clinical populations.
Highlights
Pathological demand avoidance (PDA) is a behavioural profile associated with apparently obsessive non-compliance, distress, and florid challenging and socially inappropriate behaviour in children, adolescents and adults (Newson et al 2003; O’Nions et al 2014b)
EDA-QA data were suitable for this factor analysis (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.93, Bartlett’s test of sphericity χ2 (325) = 4073.57, p < .001)
The present findings suggest that more investigation of PDA behaviours in broader samples is warranted, in profiles associated with extreme emotional dysregulation
Summary
Participants were recruited from a variety of specialist online blogs and community forums focusing on the needs and concerns of persons with ASD. Description of the Cohort The study recruited 347 persons via the above-mentioned forums/social networks [94 males, 230 females, 19 other (self-declared ‘non-binary/ gender fluid’), 4 persons omitted gender information]. Over half of the cohort (54.4%) reported a formal prior mental health diagnosis: 97 (28%) depression; 58 (16.7%) an ASD diagnosis; 53 (15.3%) an anxiety disorder; 28 (8.1%) ADHD/ADD; 24 (6.9%) personality disorder, and 14 (4%) PTSD; two individuals claimed prior drug problems, and one reported gender dysphoria. While the cohort were well educated and predominantly female, they had a disproportionate level of mental-health difficulties, in that half of the group have had a diagnosed mental health problem at some point in their life, with a further sizeable proportion (over 26%) having concerns of an undiagnosed mental disorder. No person was under any compulsion to participate, and no individual was identifiable from their personal data
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