O’Nions, E;
Happé, F;
Viding, E;
Noens, I;
(2021)
Extreme Demand Avoidance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Refinement of a Caregiver-Report Measure.
Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
, 5
(3)
pp. 269-281.
10.1007/s41252-021-00203-z.
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Abstract
Objectives: Extreme/“pathological” demand avoidance (PDA) describes a presentation found in some children on the autism spectrum, characterized by obsessive resistance to everyday demands and requests. Demands often trigger avoidance behavior (e.g., distraction, excuses, withdrawal into role play). Pressure to comply can lead to escalation in emotional reactivity and behavior that challenges. Methods: Previously, the Extreme Demand Avoidance Questionnaire (EDA-Q) was developed to quantify resemblance to clinical accounts of PDA from caregiver reports. The aim of this study was to refine the EDA-Q using principal components analysis (PCA) and item response theory (IRT) analysis on parent/caregiver-report data from 334 children with ASD aged 5–17 years. Results: PCA and IRT analyses identified eight items that are discriminating indices of EDA traits, and behave similarly with respect to quantifying EDA irrespective of child age, gender, reported academic level, or reported independence in daily living activities. The “EDA-8” showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha =.90) and convergent and divergent validity with other measures (some of which were only available for a subsample of 233 respondents). EDA-8 scores were not related to parental reports of ASD severity. Conclusions: Inspection of the test information function suggests that the EDA-8 may be a useful tool to identify children on the autism spectrum who show an extreme response to demands, as a starting point for more in-depth assessment.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Extreme Demand Avoidance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Refinement of a Caregiver-Report Measure |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s41252-021-00203-z |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-021-00203-z |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Autism spectrum disorder, Extreme demand avoidance, Pathological demand avoidance, EDA-Q, Emotional reactivity, Non-compliance, Item response theory |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10150498 |
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