Physiological and Behavioral Stress and Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders during Routine Oral Care

Table 3

Correlations between behavioral and physiological measures of distress and descriptive variables in TD and ASD groups.

	A & C Scale	Frankl Scale	CDBRS	Hands	CFSS-DS	CASI-Anx	VABS-II	SSP	Age	SCL	NS-SCR
A & C Scale		−0.96***	0.84***	0.81***	0.27	0.12	−0.42**	−0.32	−0.003	0.04	0.62**
Frankl Scale	−0.91***		−0.84***	−0.83***	−0.18	−0.18	0.44**	0.27	0.02	0.11	−0.57**
CDBRS	0.63**	−0.66***		0.82***	0.28	0.30	−0.34^†	−0.35^†	−0.03	−0.09	0.43**
Hands	0.68***	−0.64***	0.51**		0.28	0.14	−0.68***	−0.15	0.08	−0.11	−0.37*
CFSS-DS	0.11	−0.25	0.26	−0.004		0.41*	0.42	−0.43**	0.07	−0.06	0.11
CASI-Anx	0.04	0.03	0.03	−0.14	0.36*		−0.04	−0.61**	0.11	0.18	0.11
VABS-II	−0.08	−0.03	−0.10	−0.04	−0.11	−0.58**		0.01	−0.18	0.12	−0.07
SSP	−0.23	0.17	−0.20	−0.04	0.56**	−0.75***	0.57**		0.40*	−0.13	−0.29
Age	−0.38*	0.42**	−0.13	−0.27	−0.48**	−0.24	0.17	−0.14		−0.31	−0.35^†
SCL	−0.37*	0.22	−0.11	−0.21	0.38*	0.005	0.06	0.18	0.04		0.48**
NS-SCR	−0.22	0.05	−0.10	0.05	0.32	0.36*	−0.18	−0.14	−0.05	0.52**

Note. The lower left half of the matrix depicts the findings for the TD group and the upper right half represents the ASD group. A & C Scale: Anxiety and Cooperation Scale (behavioral distress); CDBRS: Children’s Dental Behavior Rating Scale (behavioral distress); Hands: use of restraining hands during dental cleaning (behavioral distress); CFSS-DS: Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (dental anxiety); CASI-Anx: Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-Anxiety Scale (general anxiety); VABS-II: Expressive Language Subtest of the Communication Domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales II (communication ability); SSP: Short Sensory Profile (sensory processing difficulty); SCL: skin conductance level throughout dental cleaning (physiological distress); NS-SCR: frequency of non-specific skin conductance responses throughout dental cleaning (physiological distress).
^∗𝑃≤.10, ^∗∗𝑃≤.05, ^∗∗∗𝑃≤.001, †approaching significance.