(PS3-B48) Associations Between Overcontrol and Anxiety Symptoms in Autistic and Allistic Youth

Overcontrol, or excessive self-control, is a personality trait linked to a behavioral phenotype for high levels of inhibitory control and performance monitoring (Vanderbleek & Gilbert, 2018). Maladaptive levels of overcontrol may pose as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology including anxiety disorders (Gilbert et al., 2020). The heterogeneity in anxiety disorders in youth populations calls for understanding the relationship between overcontrol and anxiety subtypes. Further, autistic youth are at elevated risk for anxiety (Postorino et al., 2017), and demonstrate more rigidity and inflexibility compared to allistic youth (Dajani & Uddin, 2015). The overcontrol phenotype has been severely understudied, particularly across neurodiverse youth. This study explored the relationship between overcontrol and specific anxiety in autistic and allistic youth, using both parent and child reports as each informant make unique contributions to assessment (Abei et al., 2017).

Twenty-one youths (M = 12.27 years, SD = 2.93, 24% autistic) and their parents completed measures of overcontrol (Overcontrol in Youth Checklist [OCYC]; Gilbert et al., 2020) and anxiety (Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children-2 [MASC-2]; March, 2013). Bivariate correlations examined the associations between overcontrol and anxiety.

Parent-reported OCYC was associated with child-reported (r=.63, p=.002) and marginally with parent-reported (r=.43, p=.05) MASC-2 total anxiety symptoms. Specifically, parent-reported overcontrol was associated with both parent- and child-reported symptoms of generalized anxiety and separation anxiety, as well as child-reported physical symptoms and parent-reported social anxiety (all rs >.44, p< .05). Parent-reported overcontrol did not relate to other anxiety subscales (i.e., obsessions and compulsions, harm avoidance). 

Child-reported OCYC was associated with child (r=.50, p=.02), but not parent-reported MASC-2 total anxiety symptoms. Specifically, child-reported overcontrol was associated with child-reported generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, and social anxiety (r >.47, p< .04), but not with other subdomains (i.e., obsession and compulsion, harm avoidance, physical symptoms).

These findings suggest that overcontrol may be an underlying mechanism for youth anxiety symptoms, and overcontrol, as assessed by both parent and child, may relate more specifically with generalized and separation anxiety disorders. Relationships between overcontrol and other anxiety subscales (e.g., physical symptoms, social anxiety disorder) differed across informants, suggesting a need to closely examine informant discrepancy (De Los Reyes et al., 2015) in overcontrol in relation to implicated measures. Overall, these findings contribute to the initial literature on the overcontrolled phenotype, specifically internalizing youth psychopathology (Gilbert et al., 2020), including in neurodiverse youth. Identifying childhood relationships between overcontrol and psychopathology could inform intervention during the malleable period of childhood, maximizing long-term treatment benefits (Gilbert et al., 2020; Luby, Lenze & Tillman, 2012).