Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by a series of deficits in social interaction and communication and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped behavior patterns. In addition, a high percentage of ADS is associated with anxiety disorders. The goal of this study is to assess the perception of anxiety in a group of children and adolescents with ASD and the anxiety their parents think their children have, through the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder (SCARED). Participants were 38 children and 38 parents, one for each child or adolescent. The results indicate that parental perception of anxiety is always higher than that of their children in all factors, and this difference is significant in the factors of generalized anxiety, social phobia, and anxiety in general. The correlations between the children and parents’ scores were high and significant in the factors of generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, and social phobia. The size of the sample and the lack of girls are mentioned as a limitation of the study.

Key words: Autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, inter-evaluator agreement, self-report.