Comparisons between autism spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders: findings from a clinic sample in Singapore

The goals of the present study were to: (i) examine similarities and differences in behavioral/emotional problems manifested by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with anxiety disorder (ANX); (ii) test the ability of each of the eight child behavioral checklist (CBCL) and teacher report form (TRF) syndrome scales to differentiate the ASD group from the ANX group; and (iii) test the ability of an ASD scale derived by Ooi et al. to differentiate the ASD group from the ANX group.

Archival CBCL and TRF data from 180 children between 4 and 18 years of age (119 males, 61 females) diagnosed with ASD (n = 86) or ANX (n = 94) at an outpatient child psychiatric clinic in Singapore were analyzed.

The ASD group scored significantly higher on Social Problems and Attention Problems but significantly lower on Anxious/Depressed and Somatic Complaints than the ANX group. The groups did not show significant differences on Withdrawn/Depressed and Thought Problems. Both the CBCL and TRF ASD scales were significant predictors of the ASD group, with moderate to high sensitivity and specificity.

Our findings for an Asian sample support the diagnostic overlap between ASD and ANX reported for Western samples and underscore the importance of treating ASD as both a unitary disease and as a web of overlapping configurations of underlying problem dimensions.