The Association Between IQ and Its Components and Anxiety in Autistic Girls

Objectives To explore the effects of specific components of IQ on various forms of anxiety in autistic girls.

Methods Full-Scale IQ, Block Design, Vocabulary, Matrix Reasoning and Similarities subtests of IQ, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, and Separation Anxiety were assessed in a sample of 53 autistic girls aged 6 to 17 years old. The sample was dichotomised for age and menarche.

Results Matrix Reasoning was found to be the only meaningful correlate of Social Anxiety for the entire sample, although inversely. Exploratory analyses suggested the possible effect of a developmentally based interaction between aspects of IQ and anxiety in autistic girls.

Conclusions The role of developmentally linked sex hormone influences upon the social brain and prefrontal cortex function may underlie the associations between Matrix Reasoning and Social Anxiety in autistic girls.