A cross-sectional comparison of routinized and compulsive-like behaviours in typical children aged from 2 to 11 years

Do Parental Reports of Routinized and Compulsive-Like Behaviours Decline with Child’s Age?: A Brief Report of a Follow-Up Study

“…The previous study (Glenn et al, 2012) had recruited 493 parents who had provided addresses or telephone numbers, and were willing to be contacted. Of these, 3 had moved, in 42 cases the telephone number was not recognised, 14 did not wish to participate, and in 325 cases the reason for non-response was not known; thus, there was a participation rate of 32.2%: 109 participants (mean age 7.3 years, SD 2.6 at the time of the first study) contacted after 6 years on average (mean age 13.4 years, SD 2.7).…”

“…For example Evans et al (1997) demonstrated a significant drop between the ages of 5 and 6 years, but did not continue beyond age 6 years. Glenn et al (2012) tested 1,318 children aged from 2 to 11 years, and found a significant linear decline in CRI scores with age, with some indication of a more significant drop between 7 and 8 years; a minority of children continued to have high levels up to 11 years of age. Although there was a significant correlation between ratings of routinized and compulsive-like behaviours and obsessional compulsive behaviours for children 7 years and older, there was only 1 child in the sample with a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and scores were low on average.…”

“…We used the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI, Evans et al, 1997) with children whose routinized and compulsive-like behaviours had previously been rated by their parents 6 years earlier (for details of this study see Glenn, Cunningham, & Nananidou, 2012).…”

Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Individuals with a History of ASDs Who Have Achieved Optimal Outcomes

“…The majority of participants in the OO group did not exhibit ritualistic behaviors around mealtime and bedtime, and of those that did (38% for mealtime rituals and 16% for bedtime rituals), none were reported to cause a severe impairment on functioning. Ritualism in daily routines is commonly observed among typically developing children and young adults, and may reduce anxiety by familiarizing the individuals with the sequences of actions during daily activities (Glenn, Cunningham, & Nananidou, 2012). However, we found that few individuals in our TD sample exhibited these behaviors.…”

The Effects of Maternal Rearing Attitudes and Depression on Compulsive-Like Behavior in Children: The Mediating Role of Children’s Emotional Traits

“…This phenomenon has been called compulsive-like behavior (Evans, Leckman, Carter, Reznick, Henshaw, King et al, 1997;Evans, Lewis, & Iobst, 2004;Glenn, Cunningham, & Nananidou, 2012) and is believed to be exhibited by 2 -3-year-olds in efforts to overcome new encounters or anxiety-provoking events. Pietrefesa and Evans (2007), examining the associations between OCD and compulsive-like behavior, have clarified that they are associated with similar emotional mechanisms and have a common neuropsychological basis.…”