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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Heather MooreORCiD, Dr Samuel BriceORCiD, Dr Barry InghamORCiD, Professor Mark FreestonORCiD, Professor Jeremy Parr, Emerita Professor Jacqueline Rodgers
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s). Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRB) are associated with sensory processing (SP) differences for autistic people, and are thought to be a coping strategy to help manage the sensory environment. Previous work shows that, for autistic people, alexithymia, intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and anxiety mediate the relationship between SP differences and RRB. However, these studies use anxiety measures developed for the general population, and more recent evidence suggests that autistic people may have a different anxiety experience. This study aims to extend previous findings by unpacking the anxiety experience for autistic adults in the relationship between SP differences and RRB, using an autism-specific anxiety measure. Data were available from 426 autistic adults. Serial mediation models tested the relationship between SP differences and RRB, with alexithymia, IU, anxious arousal, and social anxiety as mediators. We identified significant direct effects from SP differences to both repetitive motor behaviors (RMB) and insistence on sameness behaviors (ISB). For RMB, we found indirect effects through anxious arousal, alexithymia-anxious arousal, IU-anxious arousal, and alexithymia-IU-anxious arousal. For ISB, we found indirect effects through IU and alexithymia-IU. Thus, different mechanisms may underpin RMB and ISB. Understanding the anxiety experience of autistic people, alongside the role of SP and RRB, is key to providing tailored support, adjustments, and psychological interventions to autistic people. Future research could benefit from directly investigating the impact of strategies to support SP and anxiety.
Author(s): Moore HL, Brice S, Spraggon N, Ingham B, Freeston M, Parr JR, Rodgers J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Autism Research
Year: 2025
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 21/11/2025
Acceptance date: 29/10/2025
Date deposited: 02/12/2025
ISSN (print): 1939-3792
ISSN (electronic): 1939-3806
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70145
DOI: 10.1002/aur.70145
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from Prof Jeremy Parr. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions
PubMed id: 41268714
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