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

Louise Neil,Nora Choque Olsson,Elizabeth Pellicano

doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2721-9

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are most well known for the way they affect individuals’ social communication and interaction
Parents reported significantly greater levels of intolerance of uncertainty, t(113) = 11.19, p \ .001, d = 1.89, sensory sensitivities, t(103) = 12.68, p \ .001, d = 2.15, and anxiety, t(83) = 6.55, p \ .001, d = 1.13, in autistic children compared to typical children
The strength of the indirect effect was medium (j 2 = .12, BCa CI [.01, .25]). These results suggest that the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and sensory sensitivities in typical children can partly be explained by anxiety, but to a lesser extent than in autistic children

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are most well known for the way they affect individuals’ social communication and interaction They are characterised by non-social symptoms such as repetitive behaviours and activities and unusual responses to sensory input. These latter so-called ‘sensory sensitivities’ have risen to greater prominence with their inclusion in the recently revised diagnostic criteria for ASD, the DSM-5 (APA 2013). Such sensitivities are known to be common Bright colours and lights, for example, can feel like a ‘‘bombardment’’ (Williams 1994, p. 22) and a hug like ‘‘a tidal wave of sensation’’ (Grandin 1992, p. 108)

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