Parental psychological control and child anxiety in a multiethnic sample of youth with autism spectrum disorder

Background: This study examined the relation between parental psychological control (PC) and child anxiety in a sample of white non-Latin American (WNLA), Hispanic/Latin American (H/LA), and African American (AA) youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was hypothesized that for youth with higher IQs, PC would be positively associated with anxiety for the WNLA group, but not for the H/LA and AA groups. Methods: Archival data from 603 youth diagnosed with ASD were used to test hypotheses. PC was measured by summing responses to items on an intake form indicative of parenting practices reflecting PC. Results: Results of a hierarchical regression predicting child anxiety indicated a significant threeway interaction between PC, ethnicity (WNLA vs AA), and IQ. The graph of the interaction and tests of slopes showed that in the high IQ group, PC was positively associated with anxiety for the WNLA group and negatively associated with anxiety for the AA group. In the low IQ group, PC was positively associated with anxiety for the WNLA and AA groups. Conclusions: These findings indicate that cultural variations in the relation between PC and child anxiety found in typically developing youth are applicable to youth with ASD but only for those with higher IQs.