Autism Traits, Sensory Over-Responsivity, Anxiety, and Stress: A Test of Explanatory Models.

Pitchford et al. (2019) asked why adults with high autistic traits often feel anxious. They tested three simple pathways. Maybe sensory over-responsivity and daily stress carry the whole link.

The team ran an online survey with adults from the general public. No clinic visits. Just questionnaires about autism traits, sensory issues, stress, and anxiety.

The sensory-plus-stress path won. When adults scored high on autistic traits, their sensory over-responsivity and stress explained the jump in anxiety.

Other models that left out sensory or stress did not fit the data as well.

Ferron et al. (2023) extends the same idea to diagnosed autistic adults. They swapped sensory issues for self-compassion and still found a clear mediator. Together the studies say: both body-based and mind-based factors can sit between autism traits and anxiety.

Nisticò et al. (2023) keeps the sensory focus but moves the outcome to eating problems. Sensory sensitivity again plays the middle role, showing the idea travels across adult issues.

Deserno et al. (2017) is the predecessor. It tested young college students and used "feeling like a burden" as the mediator toward suicidality. Same method, different mediator, different outcome. The line of work keeps growing.

You now have a chain: autistic traits → sensory over-responsivity + stress → anxiety. Use it. Cut bright lights, lower noise, add break corners, and teach stress-reduction routines. These simple moves may prevent anxiety before it starts, whether your client has a diagnosis or just high traits.