A large-scale reported that 421 children out of 1033(40.8%) have unusual fears. A total of 487 unusual fears were reported with 92 different individual fears for each. The most common unusual fears were toilets, elevators vacuum cleaner and thunderstorms. Many other children had common childhood phobias like bugs, spiders, snakes, the dark, monsters, etc. However, children with autism tested with an increased proportion of fears including common childhood phobias and unusual fears. Some of the unusual fears that people with autism suffer with are...
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Life has associated factors or variables including behaviours, fears, and reactions. Likewise, autism is included as such. Having different genders is one of the most common variables for fears because of their nature and the environment in which they were raised. Another variable is the brain, due to its type of development influences and neurobiological basis. Firstly, more female children had the presence of unusual fears with 48.8% while the male had 39.1%. This alies with the studies that were done earlier that say that females with autism experience more unusual fears than males. The finding that children who suffer with or without unusual fears did not have differences in age implies that unlike most typical children, children with autism might not outgrow unusual fears.
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Further research suggests that the presence of unusual and intense fears may be present across the entire autism spectrum. Doctors note that the lack of demographic differences in the study may imply a neurobiological basis causing fears to override typical developmental and environmental influences. Children who suffer from unusual fears and children that do not have any difference in age, IQ level, mental age, autism severity, race or parent occupation.
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