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Anger Rumination is Associated with Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reported to have greater levels of anger rumination than typically developing children. This study examined anger rumination in children with ASD in comparison to children with disruptive behavior disorder without ASD. We also tested if anger rumination is associated with aggression and the core ASD symptoms of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs). This study included three groups of children aged 8–16 years: 63 had ASD (ASD group), 79 had disruptive behavior disorder (DB group), and 40 healthy controls (HC). ASD and DB groups showed greater anger rumination relative to the HC group. Anger rumination was associated with RRBs in children with ASD, suggesting the link to core ASD symptoms.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NIMH Grant R01MH101514 (D.G.S.) and NICHD Grant R01HD083881 (D.G.S.). K.I. and C.K. are Fellows of the Translational Developmental Neuroscience Training Program (T32 MH18268) directed by Dr. Michael Crowley. We thank Drs. Pamela Ventola and Megan Tudor for subject characterization assessments, and Ms. Emilie Bertschinger and Ms. Tess Gladstone for study coordination.

Funding

This work was supported by NIMH Grant R01MH101514 (D.G.S.) and NICHD Grant R01HD083881 (D.G.S.). K.I. and C.K. are Fellows of the Translational Developmental Neuroscience Training Program (T32 MH18268) directed by Dr. Michael Crowley.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Karim Ibrahim, Carla Kalvin, Carolyn L. Marsh, Anthony Anzano, Kimberly Cimino & Denis G. Sukhodolsky

  2. Department of Psychology, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Lyudmila Gorynova

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  1. Karim Ibrahim
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  2. Carla Kalvin
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  3. Carolyn L. Marsh
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  7. Denis G. Sukhodolsky
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Contributions

K.I. conceived of the study, participated in its design, performed the statistical analysis, and was the primary writer of the manuscript; C.K. participated in the interpretation and supported the data analysis; C.L.M, A.A., L.G. and K.C. participated in the coordination of the study, data collection, interpretation of results, and supported the review of this manuscript. D.G.S. conceived of the study, and participated in its design and coordination, interpretation of results, and supported the writing of the manuscript. All authors participated in developing and providing feedback for this manuscript. Approval was given from all authors for the final version of the manuscript to be published.

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Correspondence to Karim Ibrahim or Denis G. Sukhodolsky.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Sukhodolsky receives royalties from Guilford Press for a treatment manual on CBT for anger and aggression in children. Other authors (K.I., C.K., C.L.M., A.A., L.G., and K.C.) have no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest to declare related to this present study.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ibrahim, K., Kalvin, C., Marsh, C.L. et al. Anger Rumination is Associated with Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 3656–3668 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04085-y

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