Emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children with autism: Relationship with sensory processing dysfunction

This study aimed to investigate the sensory processing (SP) dysfunction and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children with autism and then examine the relationship between the SP dysfunction and emotional and behavioral problems. The parents of 112 children aged 48–84 months (67 with autism; 45 age-matched typically developing) completed a demographic questionnaire, the Child Behavior Checklist-Chinese version (CBCL-C), and the Sensory Profile-Chinese version (SP-C). We found that 95.8% of children with autism who showed significant internalizing problems had at least one SP quadrant in the definite difference range, while 81.8% with significant externalizing problems had at least one SP quadrant in the definite difference range. Typically developing children showed lower percentages of 66.7% and 40.0%. Stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that in children with autism, avoiding and male gender were significant predictors of internalizing problems and sensitivity was a significant predictor of externalizing problems. In contrast, in typically developing children, avoiding was a significant predictor of internalizing problems and seeking was a significant predictor of externalizing problems. This study provided further understanding of the factors influencing emotional and behavioral problems in autism.

Research highlights
► SP dysfunction was prevalent in autism with emotional and behavioral problems.
► For autism, avoiding and male gender were predictors of internalizing problems.
► For autism, sensitivity was a predictor of externalizing problems.
► For typically developing children, avoiding was a predictor of internalizing problems.
► For typically developing children, seeking was a predictor of externalizing problems.