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Review
. 2014 Dec:39:22-36.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2014.05.012. Epub 2014 Jun 18.

Social-cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation impairments: understanding anxiety in autism spectrum disorder

Susan W White  1 , Carla A Mazefsky  2 , Gabriel S Dichter  3 , Pearl H Chiu  4 , John A Richey  5 , Thomas H Ollendick  5
Affiliations
Review

Social-cognitive, physiological, and neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation impairments: understanding anxiety in autism spectrum disorder

Susan W White et al. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Anxiety is one of the most common clinical problems among children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet we know little about its etiology in the context of ASD. We posit that emotion regulation (ER) impairments are a risk factor for anxiety in ASD. Specifically, we propose that one reason why anxiety disorders are so frequently comorbid with ASD is because ER impairments are ubiquitous to ASD, stemming from socio-cognitive, physiological, and neurological processes related to impaired cognitive control, regulatory processes, and arousal. In this review, we offer a developmental model of how ER impairments may arise in ASD, and when (moderating influences) and how (meditational mechanisms) they result in anxiety.

Keywords: Anxiety; Autism; Developmental psychopathology; Emotion regulation; Mechanism.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mediators of ER Deficits in ASD and Moderators of Anxiety Expression
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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MeSH terms