Mediation of Occupational Competence by Anxiety and Hyperarousal in Youths With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Abstract

Date Presented 03/28/20 Comorbid anxiety and hyperarousal in youths with ASD provides additional challenges to occupational participation and competence, and thus occupational adaptation. By studying the effect of anxiety and arousal on competence, we found contrary trends for controls and ASD, suggesting less resilient behavior to anxiety in ASD and lower anxiety-mediated competence in older youths with ASD. This provides foundational knowledge for the design of pragmatic OT interventions. Primary Author and Speaker: Aditya Jayashankar Contributing Authors: Christiana Butera, Laura Harrison, Emily Kilroy, Alexis Nalbach, Anusha Hossain, Lisa Aziz-Zadeh