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Friendship and Internalizing Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents with ASD

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Abstract

Anxiety and depression are common among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), highlighting a need to identify factors that protect against these symptoms. Among typically developing children, friendships are protective, and lead to better emotional outcomes. The current study examined a large, well-characterized sample of children and adolescents with ASD to examine the relations among friendship, ASD symptom severity, and anxiety/depression. Rates of anxiety/depression were high in this sample. Greater ASD severity was associated with fewer symptoms of anxiety/depression, lower IQ, and poorer number and/or quality of reciprocal friendships. Surprisingly, children with no or very poor dyadic relationships experienced less anxiety than those with existing, but limited, friendships. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (SFARI award #26021565-08C000066 to Judith Miles). We are grateful to all of the families at the participating Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) sites, as well as the principal investigators (A. Beaudet, A. Klin, B. Peterson, C. Lord, C. Martin, C. Saulnier, C. Walsh, D. Geschwind, D. Grice, D. Ledbetter, D. Martin, E. Cook, E. Fombonne, E. Wijsman, J. Miles, J. Constantino, J. Piggot, J. Sutcliffe, M. State, O. Ousley, R. Bernier, R. Kochel, R. Maxim, W. Stone). We appreciate obtaining access to phenotypic data on SFARI Base, https://ordering.base.sfari.org/~browse_collection/ui:finder()#!a:/archive[sfari_collection_v6]/ui:view().

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  1. Department of Health Psychology, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri-Columbia, 300 Portland Street, Suite 110, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Micah O. Mazurek & Stephen M. Kanne

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  1. Micah O. Mazurek
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  2. Stephen M. Kanne
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Correspondence to Micah O. Mazurek.

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Mazurek, M.O., Kanne, S.M. Friendship and Internalizing Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 1512–1520 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1014-y

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