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Med."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S0033291720003244_sec_a1\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Alexithymia (difficulties in identifying and describing emotion) is a transdiagnostic trait implicated in social\u2013emotional and mental health problems in the general population. Many autistic individuals experience significant social-communication difficulties and elevated anxiety\/depression and alexithymia. Nevertheless, the role of alexithymia in explaining individual variability in the quality\/severity of social-communication difficulties and\/or anxiety and depression symptoms in autism remains poorly understood.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S0033291720003244_sec_a2\" sec-type=\"methods\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In total, 337 adolescents and adults (autism\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 179) were assessed for alexithymia on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and for social-communication difficulties, anxiety and depression symptoms. A total of 135 individuals (autism\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 76) were followed up 12\u201324 months later. We used regression models to establish cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between alexithymia, social-communication difficulties, anxiety and depression symptoms.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S0033291720003244_sec_a3\" sec-type=\"results\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Autistic individuals reported significantly higher alexithymia than comparison individuals (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.001,\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      effect size = 0.48), with 47.3% of autistic females and 21.0% of autistic males meeting cut-off for clinically relevant alexithymia (score \u2a7e61). Difficulties in\n                      <jats:italic>describing<\/jats:italic>\n                      feelings were particularly associated with current self-reported social-communication difficulties [\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.001,\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44\u20130.67] and predicted later social-communication difficulties (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.02,\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.43, 95% CI 0.07\u20130.82). Difficulties in\n                      <jats:italic>identifying<\/jats:italic>\n                      feelings were particularly associated with current anxiety symptom severity (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.001,\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.54, 95% CI 0.41\u20130.77) and predicted later anxiety (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.01;\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.31, 95% CI 0.08\u20130.62).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"S0033291720003244_sec_a4\" sec-type=\"conclusions\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our findings suggest that difficulties in identifying\n                      <jats:italic>v<\/jats:italic>\n                      . describing emotion are associated with differential clinical outcomes in autism. Psychological therapies targeting emotional awareness may improve social-communication and anxiety symptoms in autism, potentially conferring long-term benefits.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0033291720003244","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,8]],"date-time":"2020-10-08T03:32:40Z","timestamp":1602127960000},"page":"1458-1470","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":88,"title":["Alexithymia in autism: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with social-communication difficulties, anxiety and depression symptoms"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"52","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1968-134X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bethany F. M.","family":"Oakley","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily J. 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