SynthesisClinical child and family psychology review2023
The relationshipbetween anxiety and social outcomes in autistic children and adolescents: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical child and family psychology review, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The relationships between anxiety, psychotic-like experiences and autism: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Executive function challenges persist into young adulthood and predict mental health outcomes in autism.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Nonlinear association between body mass index, perceived discrimination, and psychological sub-health problems among adolescents: risks of undernutrition versus overnutrition.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Co-occurring Conditions and Education Services Among Transition-Age Adolescents With Autism.Pediatrics open science · 2026Article
- Association between Internet addiction and mental health problems among Chinese adolescents in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era: a propensity score matching study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Exploring Trajectories of Anxiety Symptoms in Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth over Adolescence Using Parent- and Self-Report Measures.Research in autism · 2026Article
- Patterns of Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Young Children With Developmental Disabilities: Cluster Analysis and Longitudinal Follow-Up.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Improving Social Communication in Autistic Adolescents Through a Clinic-Home-School Collaboration.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Associations between emotion and behavior codes and ADOS-2 scores in a sample of children referred for autism evaluation.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between autistic children's anxiety and social communication differences: The moderating role of executive function behaviours.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- The 12-item self-report Questionnaire for Difficulty in Social Communication as a simultaneous prescreening of autism spectrum and social anxiety.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- Using Q-sort method to explore autistic students' views of the impacts of their anxiety at school.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2024Article
- Spontaneous instrumental approach-avoidance learning in social contexts in autism.Molecular autism · 2024Article
- Autism Spectrum Disorders: Etiology, Epidemiology, and Challenges for Public Health.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Review
- Social Skills Interventions for Adolescents with Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Anxiety is one of the most frequently reported co-occurring conditions for autistic children and adolescents. The relationship between anxiety and social outcomes in autistic youth has been the focus of a range of studies, with mixed results. This meta-analysis aimed to identify the strength of the association between anxiety and a frequently researched social outcome (social competence) in autistic young people and whether that association is influenced by individual or research design factors. A previous preregistered systematic review was updated with a search of the same three databases (CINAHL, ERIC, and PsycINFO) as the original review. Through this, 20 studies with sufficient data on a neurotypically-defined measure of social competence and anxiety were identified. Results were synthesised using a mixed effects model. The meta-analysis on 2,321 participants (from 22 samples) highlighted wide heterogeneity in results. The findings show that anxiety has a significant, small negative impact on social competence (d = - 0.48; 95% CI = - 0.71, - 0.26), meaning that as scores on measures of anxiety increase, scores on measures of social competence decrease. This relationship between anxiety and social competence was moderated by age, becoming weaker as age increased. Whilst this is an important finding for supporting mental health and well-being of autistic young people, the large amount of variance left unexplained suggests that multiple factors, including the use of measures designed for neurotypical people and the potential impact of camouflaging on such measures, need to be considered in future designs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.