Predictors of specific phobia in children with Williams syndrome. J Intellect Disabil Res 2016 Oct;60(10):1031-42
Date
08/23/2016Pubmed ID
27545817Pubmed Central ID
PMC5026631DOI
10.1111/jir.12327Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84987806967 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 14 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Specific phobia (SP) is the most common anxiety disorder among children with Williams syndrome (WS); prevalence rates derived from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-based diagnostic interviews range from 37% to 56%. We evaluated the effects of gender, age, intellectual abilities and/or behaviour regulation difficulties on the likelihood that a child with WS would be diagnosed with SP.
METHODS: A total of 194 6-17 year-olds with WS were evaluated. To best characterise the relations between the predictors and the probability of a SP diagnosis, we explored not only possible linear effects but also curvilinear effects.
RESULTS: No gender differences were detected. As age increased, the likelihood of receiving a SP diagnosis decreased. As IQ increased, the probability of receiving a SP diagnosis also decreased. Behaviour regulation difficulties were the strongest predictor of a positive diagnosis. A quadratic relation was detected: The probability of receiving a SP diagnosis gradually rose as behaviour regulation difficulties increased. However, once behaviour regulation difficulties approached the clinical range, the probability of receiving a SP diagnosis asymptoted at a high level.
CONCLUSION: Children with behaviour regulation difficulties in or just below the clinical range were at the greatest risk of developing SP. These findings highlight the value of large samples and the importance of evaluating for nonlinear effects to provide accurate model specification when characterising relations among a dependent variable and possible predictors.
Author List
Pitts CH, Klein-Tasman BP, Osborne JW, Mervis CBAuthor
Bonita Klein-Tasman BA,MA,PhD Professor in the Psychology department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentChild
Comorbidity
Female
Humans
Male
Phobic Disorders
Self-Control
Williams Syndrome
