Discriminant and convergent validity of the anxiety construct in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Renno et al. (2013) asked if anxiety in autistic kids is its own thing or just part of autism.

They used multitrait-multimethod math on ratings from parents, kids, and teachers.

All kids were 7-11 years old with ASD.

Anxiety showed good discriminant validity. That means it measured anxiety, not general autism severity.

Separation anxiety and overall anxiety also showed convergent validity. Different raters saw the same traits.

You can trust the scores to tell you about real anxiety, not just more autism traits.

Bitsika et al. (2015) extends this work. They showed parent and child reports often disagree, so you need both.

Adams et al. (2019) adds parent descriptions of anxiety signs at home and in the community. These real-world examples line up with the valid scores Patricia found.

Greene et al. (2019) widens the lens to school. Teachers saw clinical anxiety in nearly half of students, proving the same construct shows up across settings.

Burrows et al. (2018) synthesis agrees with Patricia. Experts call for better anxiety measures before treatment starts.

You can now feel safe using standard anxiety rating scales with autistic 7-11-year-olds. High scores mean real anxiety, not just more ASD traits. Collect at least two viewpoints—parent and child or parent and teacher—to catch separation and overall anxiety. If scores clash, probe contexts instead of doubting the tool.