Abstract
The present study examined the relations between anxiety, cognitive functioning, local processing, and social skills in a group of 102 children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The results indicated that children diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder had significantly higher cognitive functioning and enhanced local processing (i.e., Block Design scores) compared to those diagnosed with Autistic Disorder or PDD-NOS. Regression analyses results showed that anxiety and cognitive functioning moderated the association between local processing and social skills. For children with low cognitive functioning and high anxiety, greater local processing was associated with poorer social skills than those with high cognitive functioning, high anxiety, and greater local processing. For children with high cognitive functioning and high anxiety, enhanced local processing was associated with better social skills than those with high cognitive functioning and reduced local processing. Implications of these findings are discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1243-1251 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anxiety
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Cognitive functioning
- Local processing
- Social skills
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health