The Role of Pediatric Sensory Over-responsivity and Anxiety Symptoms in the Development of Family Accommodations

Ayelet Ben-Sasson; Tamar Y Podoly; Eli R Lebowitz

doi:10.1007/s10578-023-01547-4

The Role of Pediatric Sensory Over-responsivity and Anxiety Symptoms in the Development of Family Accommodations

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2023 May 23. doi: 10.1007/s10578-023-01547-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ayelet Ben-Sasson¹, Tamar Y Podoly^{2

3}, Eli R Lebowitz⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Hushi, Haifa, 3498838, Israel. asasson@univ.haifa.ac.il.
² Oti, Israeli Association for ASD, Reserach Center, Givat Shmuel, Israel.
³ Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁴ Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.

PMID: 37219643
DOI: 10.1007/s10578-023-01547-4

Abstract

Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) is linked with elevated anxiety and reduced family wellbeing. Family accommodation of anxiety relates with greater symptom severity and reduced intervention outcome. This study examined the contribution of child SOR and co-occurring anxiety symptoms to family accommodation and its consequences. Ninety families of typically developing children (ages 4-13 years), completed an online survey including the Sensory Profile 2, Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and Family Accommodation Sensory Scale (FASENS). FASENS scores include frequency of accommodation, child impact, and family impact.Children with elevated anxiety symptoms had significantly higher sensory and FASENS scores. Stepwise linear regression indicated that only SOR symptoms significantly predicted the frequency of sensory family accommodation, while both SOR and anxiety symptoms predicted the impact of family accommodation upon child and family well-being.Both SOR and anxiety symptoms in children predict the impact of sensory family accommodations on child and family well-being.

Keywords: Anxiety; Family accommodation; Sensory over-responsivity; Sensory regulation.