Pathological ("extreme") demand avoidance (PDA) involves obsessively avoiding routine demands and extreme emotional variability. It is clinically linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The observer-rated EDA Questionnaire (EDA-Q) for children was adapted as an adult self-report (EDA-QA), and tested in relation to personality and the…

To probe the specificity of traits that might be conceptualised as the broader phenotype of autism, parents of subjects with autism from simplex and multiplex families as well as parents of subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), early onset schizophrenia (EOS) and mental retardation (MR) were assessed using the Personality Style and…

This study examined mental health risk/protective factors for DSM-IV psychiatric symptoms in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their contribution to functioning separate from ASD symptom severity. Mothers/teachers completed measures of risk/protection and social, adaptive, and school functioning in 6- to 12-year-olds with a…