Objectives: The current study aims to investigate: (a) potential differences in emotional self-regulation between ASD, ADHD, and typically developing populations and (b) the possible influence that gender, IQ, and age may have on emotional self-regulation of children in all three populations.
Methods: Participants will include children with ASD and ADHD from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC), which contains children ages 4 to 18 years old. Children with ASD have received clinical diagnoses through administrations of the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R; Rutter, et al,. 2009) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord, et al., 2000). The SSC also includes data on typically developing siblings of the children with ASD. From the sibling population, a subset of children with ADHD diagnoses and a subset of siblings without ADHD, who are otherwise typically developing, will be pulled for analyses. Emotional self-regulation will be measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991) Post-Traumatic Stress Problems domain (PTSP; Althoff et al., 2010), Cognitive ability (i.e., verbal, non-verbal, and full-scale IQ) will be assessed through either the: (a) Differential Ability Scales – Second Edition (DAS-II; Elliott, 2007), (b) Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen; 1995), (c) the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV; Wechsler, 2003), or the (d) Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI; Wechsler, 1999). Demographic information on all three groups will include age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
Results: An ANCOVA will be run to assess the differences in the emotional self-regulation of participants between the groups of youth with ASD, ADHD and those who are typically developing.
Conclusions: Findings from the current study may further knowledge regarding emotional self-regulation patterns across different populations. Such knowledge may contribute to the early identification of emotional self-regulation problems and may help determine the degree a child’s need for intervention.
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