Dysfunctional attitudes and perfectionism and their relationship to anxious and depressive symptoms in boys with autism spectrum disorders.

Greenaway et al. (2010) compared boys with autism to typically developing boys. They asked both groups to fill out questionnaires about perfectionism, anxious thoughts, and sad mood.

The team wanted to see if rigid, all-or-nothing thinking predicted higher anxiety or depression in boys with ASD.

Boys with ASD scored higher on every measure. They held more 'I must be perfect' beliefs and reported more worry and sadness than the control group.

The link between the rigid thoughts and mood symptoms was small. Still, the pattern showed that cognitive style matters for emotional health in ASD.

McGonigle et al. (2014) tested older teens with ASD and found a different cognitive culprit: weak executive skills, not social cognition, predicted anxiety. Together the two studies say 'check both attitudes and executive function when anxiety shows up.'

Shyu et al. (2026) extended the mood work into quality of life. They showed that social anxiety and feeling socially incompetent drag down well-being in autistic adolescents. Rebecca's 'dysfunctional attitudes' may be one root of that social worry.

Van Gaasbeek et al. (2026) looked at transitional-age youth and found low psychological flexibility plus poor emotion regulation. Their results line up with Rebecca's: rigid thinking styles travel with mood trouble across age groups in ASD.

When you see anxiety or depression in a client with ASD, screen for perfectionistic rules like 'I can't make mistakes.' Brief cognitive exercises that loosen all-or-nothing thinking—such as sorting 'good-enough' versus 'perfect' work samples—can be a low-intensity add-on to your behavior plan. Targeting these attitudes early may prevent bigger mood problems later.