Video games are becoming increasingly popular among children (Lenhart et al., 2015). There is a lack of research that studies the impact of online games on children’s neurocognitive functions.

The aim is to study neurocognitive functions in children and adolescents playing and not playing online games.

The sample comprises 100 children aged 5-10 years and 100 adolescents aged 11-16 years. The following neuropsychological indexes (Akhutina, 2016) are studied: programming and control, serial organization of movements, auditory and visual memory, left and right hemispheric functions, and neurodynamic component of mental activity. Wexler’s Awareness and Comprehension Tests were used to study verbal functions. The game activity are measured by social-psychological questionnaire.

Children who play online games have a serial organization of movements (smooth switching from one component of the program to another) (F=14,46, p<0,01) and a neurodynamic component (F=13,07, p<0,01), which are worse developed than children who do not play online games. Adolescents playing online games have better analytical (left hemispheric) functions (F=13,37, p<0,01), mathematical abilities (F=3,47, p=0,063), and Awareness subtest (F=3,47, p=0,065) scores than nonplaying adolescents.

Children playing online games have lower results on neurocognitive functions directly related to motor development. Teenagers playing online games had higher scores in mathematical ability, analytical functions and awareness. The results indicate the need to develop an optimal time for digital gaming activities depending on the age of the child. The reported study was funded by RFBR, project No. 19-29-14181.

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project 19-29-14181.

Internet provides wide opportunities not only for development, but also for developmental risks including information about drug consumption, advocacy for weight loss and suicide (Livingstone et al., 2011).

The aim of this study was to compare user activity and online risks in Russian adolescents and parents according to three population studies, 2010, 2013, and 2019.

Using EU Kids Online methodology (Livingstone et al., 2011), the data of 1219 parents of adolescents 12-17 years old and 1553 adolescents 12-17 years old from 15 regions of Russia in 2019 were compared with the data of 1203 adolescents 12-17 years old and 1209 parents in 2013, as well as the answers of 685 couples “parent - teenager 12-16 years old” in 2010.

Compared to 2010, in 2019 adolescents are more frequently disappointed or worried about something online (41.5% versus 33.6%, χ2=12.44, p<.01, CC=.07). Contemporary adolescents rarer report having seen sexual images (χ2=339,48, p<0,01, CC=0,36) online but more frequently report having seen rude actions online (χ2=69,93, p<0,01, CC=0,16). They more frequently see information about drugs and suicides (χ2=37,11, p<0,01, CC=0,12 и χ2=85,04, p<0,01, CC=0,17, respectively) and report an experience of cyberaggression (χ2=80,85, p<0,01, CC=0,19) and fraud (χ2=17,75, p<0,01, CC=0,09).

In Russian sample online risks in adolescents closely related to mental health and risky behavior in 2010-2019 increase suggesting necessity of social programs of risk prevention. Study is supported by Russian science Foundation, project 18-18-00365.

Study is supported by Russian science Foundation, project 18-18-00365.

Prenatal attachment is a strong predictor of post-natal attachment. Identifying factors influencing this bond is important, especially maternal history of stressful life-events.

Determine which type of maternal trauma impacts prenatal attachment.

We conducted a transversal descriptive study in a first line clinical practice center and in an university gynecology-obstetrics department. We used Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI) to assess maternal-fetal attachment, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to evaluate maternal childhood stressful events and the Life-Threatening Events (LTE) to explore traumas during the past 6 months.

For the 125 pregnant women in our study, the mean age was 30 years and 5 months with 99,2% of them married. Mean gestational age was 33 weeks +1 day. PAI’s mean score was 55,58± 10,20; CTQ‘s mean score was 36,62 ± 9,53 revealing trauma in 28%. Women admitted being victims of IPV in 49,6% with almost the half (48,38%) being exposed to two or more forms of violence. Mean score for recent traumatic events in LTE was 1,87 with 65,2% being exposed to two or more life threatening event. A correlation between the total score of PAI and CTQ was found (p=0.021) particularly subscales of physical and emotional negligence of the CTQ (p=0.023 and p=0.006). We found no statistically significant correlation neither between PAI and IPV (p=0,453) nor between PAI and LTE (p= 0,360).

Providing an appropriate training for health care providers can enable them to detect pregnancies at risk in order to refer them to trauma-informed mental health services.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by inabilities in communication and social interaction. ¹ Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological disorder in which the consistency and precision of speech movements are impaired, in the absence of neuromuscular deficits.2 Research indicates that children with ASD do not have a higher prevalence of CAS.3 It is suggested that comorbid ASD and CAS would be expected to be extremely rare.

Verify the occurrence of CAS in children with ASD.

The study included 22 children diagnosed with ASD aged between 4 and 8 years, who were undergoing speech therapy at a specialized health service and their therapists. The test was applied by the therapists Differential Assessment of Autism and Other Developmental Disorders (DAADD)4, divides into six areas of development: language, pragmatic, sensory, motor, physical and behavioral to differentiate and diagnose disorders of neurological origin.

Among the 22 children participating in the research, 20 did not score the item apraxia. Only two children were referred with apraxia and twelve had receptive language and pre-academic skills proportional to their age. Of 22 participants, only three were overly excited for verbal productions.

The analyzes of data suggests that the occurrence of CAS in children with ASD is low and underlying the disorder.

School Bullying is an educational and a health care issue that was kept hided for a long time. Despite, growing interest about this issue, it’s still a topic that is not well known and well analysed in Tunisia.

- Evaluate the prevalence of school bullying among Middle school students - Establish the psychological profile of harassers

It’s a cross sectional study including 600 students of 2 middle schools of the region of Sousse -Tunisia during the month of March 2020. “The adolescent peer relations instrument” was used to identify school bullying and its type. The “Child Behaviour Checklist” questionnaire was used to identify emotional and behavioural problems among children. Self esteem levels were evaluated by the “Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale”.

The mean age of participants was 13 years and 9 months ±1 year and 4 months. 95.1 % of the participants have experienced school harassment, but also 92% of them harassed their peers. Boys were more frequently bullies than girls (p<0.01). There was no significant difference in self esteem levels between bullies and non-bullies adolescents. Among the 8 syndroms explored by the Child behaviour checklist, adolescents experiencing one of the 7 folllowing items (Anxious syndrome, Depressive syndrome, Aggressive behaviour, Attention problems, Social problem, Thoughts problems and Withdrawal problems) had significantly higher risk of being a bully (p values between 0.001 and 0.02).

This study emphasizes the high prevalence of school bullying among adolescents in Tunisia. Most of the psychological problems explored in this study seem to be higher among bullies.

Attention Deficit and Hiperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder, affecting executive functions and defined by hyperactivity, attention deficit and/or impulsivity symptoms. This neurodevelopmental disorder affect up to 7% of children. It is observed as a chronic pathology appearing on childhood with other comorbid diseases. Often, remarkable symptoms use to change with the age, however a real improvement is also related with other -external- factors, as social environment.

-To highlight variability of ADHD symptoms and complexity of available treatments in childhood. -To analize influence of personal and familiar factors, which affect to evolution of ADHD and the response to treatment.

Comparative-study. Retrospective selection of 8 patients with treatment for ADHD and currently stable. A 12-months ADHD confirmed diagnosis in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit and follow-up after diagnosis. They are compared by aged-pairs (females and males) at the different development school-stages (preschool 3-6 years, primary school 7-12 years and adolescence 13-16 years). *Pairs of study: male-5 years/female-6 years; male-7 years/female-8 years; female-10 years/male-11 years; female-13 years/male-15 years

-Evolution of ADHD highlights the influence of age-factor about remarkable symptoms mainly (from hiperactivity to inattentiveness). -Comorbid disorders seems related with sex-factor (impulsivity-eating disorders on females and irritability-mood disorders on males). -Children social environment, specially family support, is an important external factor for all these patients (low self-steem or somatization disorders).

1. ADHD as a chronic disorder whose evolution depends on the age, sex and social factors 2. Genetic component or familiar support are also considered as influencers factors 3.Multidisciplinary approach to objectives: motivation, organization and maturity 4. Treatment is consider according to side effects and comorbidity

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are often referred to as psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations and delusions, in the absence of a psychotic disorder. PLEs as part of the continuum of psychosis suggested that healthy population can endorse PLEs without having significant distress or impairment which would warrant them a clinical diagnosis. While PLEs are usually associated with psychotic disorders, previous research has also shown the link between PLEs and many other mood symptoms.

The present study aims to identify PLEs in community youths and explore the underlying risk and protective factors.

This is an ongoing study in which young people aged 15-24 were recruited from community through a random stratified sampling method. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, functioning, and other psychosocial factors were assessed in a face-to-face structured interview. In particular, PLEs were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Screening Scales (CIDI-SC). Six domains of lifetime PLEs were measured, including auditory and visual hallucination, thought insertion/ withdrawal, delusion of control and reference, and persecutory delusions.

To date, 746 participants were recruited and of these, 3.2% of them has endorsed lifetime PLEs. Results showed that significantly higher depressive, anxiety and stress scores were found in those who has PLEs (p<0.001), and additionally, these scores significantly predicted the presence of PLEs in regression models (p<0.001).

Our preliminary findings highlighted the inter-related phenomena between PLEs and mood symptoms. Further investigation is needed to examine the likelihood of PLEs in predicting psychosis over time.

Behavioral dysregulation is a common presentation of children in the Emergency-Room (ER)1. A 10-year-old African-American boy with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder with poor treatment adherence, two previous psychiatric hospitalizations and multiple ER visits, presented with dysregulation and aggressive behavior. He had inconsistent parenting and poor attachment with present involvement of child protective services. We did a systematic review to interpret associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the development of behavioral dysregulation in later life.

To see associations between ACEs and the development of behavioral dysregulation in later life.

We searched PsycINFO, APA PsycNet, PubMed, and Medline. Among 35 articles, five were included: 1) a meta-analysis of health consequences and ACEs1; 2) a data analysis of 64,329 youth from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice that focused on suicide attempts and ACEs2; 3) a systematic review of 42 articles related to ACEs 3; 4) data from 22,575 youth for childhood abuse, trauma and neglect 4 and 5) a multimodal logistic regression study on 64,000 juvenile offenders focused on ACE scores and latent trajectory.5

There is increased risk of substance use, mental and physical health problems, and violence associated with ACEs1, 2. The relationship between childhood difficulties and suicide is interceded by adolescent’s maladaptive behaviors3. By age 35, ACEs increase the risk of becoming a serious juvenile offender4. Increased exposure to ACEs differentiates early-onset and sustained criminality from other forms of criminality5.

ACEs can affect the development of a child in multiple ways including suicidal behavior, aggression, impulsivity, criminality, academic difficulties and substance abuse

Growing evidence studying pathological online behaviour has shown an increasing rate of internet addictions in younger populations across the globe.

The current study aims to investigate the prevalence of smartphone internet addiction of youths in Hong Kong, and its associations with gender and depression.

A total of 1,164 participants’ preliminary data were extracted from the Hong Kong Youth Epidemiological Study of Mental Health, a territory-wide, household-based study of mental health in youths aged between 15-24. Internet usage behaviors, socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics of the participants were assessed. The Chen Internet Addiction Scale was modified to measure smartphone internet addiction (SIA). Symptoms of depression were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine (i) SIA across gender and (ii) depressive symptoms between high and no to low SIA groups. Linear regression model was used to evaluate the association between SIA and depression.

The prevalence of smartphone internet addiction was 27.8% using the cut-off scores of 67/68. Women had higher SIA scores than men (U=144239.50, p=0.001). Participants with high SIA were associated with a higher severity in depression than those with no-to-low SIA (U=89187.00, p<0.001). Regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between depression and SIA after adjusting for confounding factors (B=0.099, t=9.138, p<0.001).

Our findings suggest a gender difference on online behaviour using smartphones. Further investigations are needed on whether SIA may exacerbate severity of common mental disorders.

Psychosis are complex disorders due to their symptomatic and evolutionary heterogeneity. The genetic-environmental interaction model is the most accepted etiopathogenic model, in which neurobiological processes (genetic factors, connectivity and brain structure) and environmental factors (for example: childhood trauma) are studied. The association between suffering traumatic events in childhood and the subsequent development of a Mental Disorder is of increasing interest.

Analyze if a childhood trauma is a modulating factor of psychotic symptoms in patients with Mental Disorder. Analyze the implication of childhood trauma in long-term functionality.

The sample is made up of 37 patients with psychosis and their healthy brothers. Different sociodemographic, clinical and evolutionary variables were collected in all groups. The sample was evaluated using the semi-structured interview CASH, the WHODAS scale and the self-applied questionnaire CTQ.

We did not find significant differences between the scores of CTQ between patients with psychosis and their healthy brothers. Sexual abuse is significantly correlated with the presence of hallucinations, inappropriate affect, formal thought disorders and catatonic symptoms. Emotional neglect is significantly correlated with the presence of hallucinations, inappropriate affect, affective blunting, and anhedonia. Physical neglect is significantly correlated with flattery and blunt affection. Sexual abuse is correlated with poorer personal care. Emotional neglect is correlated with poorer personal care, poorer family functioning, and worse overall functioning in the last year.

The intensity of traumatic experiences throughout childhood could be considered a modulating factor of psychotic symptoms (positive, negative, disorganized and catatonic) and overall functioning (occupational, family, social and personal care).

Handwriting disorder is considered to be one of the major public health problems among school-aged children worldwide. All the scales in the literature use handwriting tasks but it could be interesting to investigate a more accurate assessment of handwriting difficulties before the development and acquisition of handwriting as such.

The objective of our study is to examine the validity of a prescriptural task consisting of copying a line of cycloid loops in the diagnosis of handwriting disorders.

35 children with handwriting disabilities and 331 typically developing right-handed children in primary school, aged 6-11 years old, were included in the study. They performed a copy of a line of cycloid loops, in an ecological setting, with a paper sheet put on the table. The kinematic measures were recorded with a digital pen. A Receiver Operating Characteristic method (ROC curve) was used to determine whether the loops line copy may be a sensitive test to diagnose handwriting disorders.

Six kinematic variables recorded during the prescriptural task were found to be relevant markers of handwriting disorders with a sensibility between 0.743 and 0.880: strokes number, total and effective drawing time, in-air pauses times, loops number, number of peaks velocity.

The graphomotor task of copying a line of cycloid loops showed a good sensitivity to diagnose handwriting disorders and appeared to be a good predictor test, more particularly with the variables reflecting the strokes temporal organization.Drawing loops is a rapid graphomotor task, useful for exploring prerequisites of handwriting in screening for handwriting disorders.

The prevalence of adult Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been investigated in the general population by multiple studies. However, few studies have focused on identifying its prevalence in the military population, particularly among military parents of children with ADHD.

The aim of our study was to screen for adult ADHD among military parents of ADHD children followed-up at the child and adolescent psychiatry department in the Military Hospital of Instruction of Tunis, Tunisia.

This prospective study was carried among military parents (one or both parents belonging to the national army) of ADHD children. Children were diagnosed with ADHD based on the 5th Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ADHD criteria and the Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale. Whereas adult ADHD was screened for using the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1.

Fifteen children and twenty-nine parents were included in the study: sixteen of the parents were military members and thirteen were civilian spouses. Eight (50%) of the sixteen military parents, and four (30,7%) of the civilian spouses were screened positive for ADHD. Whereas 73% of these children had at least one parent screened positive for ADHD, and 53% had at least one military parent screened positive for ADHD. These results suggest a high prevalence of adult ADHD among this population.

ADHD occurs in childhood and may persist into adulthood. The findings of this study indicate that ADHD symptoms are not limited to the youth and are common in military population. Implications on screening, management, preventive measures and research should be discussed.

Chronic diseases have often been associated with depression or other psychiatric conditions. Despite the fact that renal transplantation offers children a chance at a better life, it could also raise some challenges. Dealing with a severe medical condition such as chronic renal disease and multidrug therapy with potential long term side-effects from the early years of life can affect a child’s emotional and social development.

Reporting a case which represents a challenge in treating an adolescent with depression and renal failure.

Case Report

A 15 year old male with multiple admissions (between the ages of 12 and 15) for recurrent feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness due to his appearance, impaired social skills, hostility towards society, suicide ideation and aggressive behaviour. Moreover, his medical history includes CRS (congenital renal disease), kidney transplant at the age of 2 followed with transplant rejection in 2019. Currently he is under haemodialysis and multiple drug prescriptions associated with his severe medical condition which interferes with the psychotropic treatment.

This case quests what the better choice of intervention is for depression associated with aggressive behavior in a child with kidney failure and with no significant improvement in psychotherapy?

Some researchers believe that an increased level of aggression and cruelty towards others in delinquent adolescents is due to impaired recognition of emotions and empathy.

The aim of our study was to study the recognition of emotions in deviant adolescents.

As a material, 156 juvenile offenders from 13 to 19 years old were selected who were in the camp for delinquent adolescents “Sibextrem”. All of them committed any offenses, they were registered with the social welfare authorities and the police. The adolescents were trained to reduce aggressiveness. During the training, several exercises were carried out. In the first exercise, the teenagers were asked to identify the emotions depicted in the photographs. In the second, determine what emotional state their peers portray

During the training process, 78% of adolescents could not identify the emotions presented. This was typical not only for the recognition of standard images, but also for the presentation of emotions by peers. As a result of the training, most adolescents, 64.2%, learned to quite accurately recognize nonverbal emotions. As a result, the number of aggressive manifestations decreased by 31.6%. Mutual understanding and communication improved.

The results obtained indicate that deviant adolescents have impaired emotional perception of others. Difficulty in assessing emotions creates tension in interpersonal relationships and can contribute to the manifestation of various forms of aggressive behavior. The vector of research we have chosen shows the need for further study of the emotional sphere of adolescents and its relationship with deviant forms of behavior.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. It is known that infants who have older siblings with ASD have a risk for development of this disorder. It is important to study the development of children at risk for ASD to reveal early markers for ASD.

The aim of this research was to investigate the neurocognitive abilities in children at risk for ASD at 14 months of age.

The experimental group included 21 infants at risk for ASD at 14 months (12 boys and 9 girls). The control group included 21 typically developing children. The children from groups were matched for gender and age. The Bayley Scales (3rd Ed.) were used to evaluate the neurocognitive abilities in children.

The results were evaluated by two-way ANOVA, with level of performance in five Bayley scales as dependent variable, with group and gender as between-subjects factors. We did not reveal the significant (p≤0,05) influence of the group and gender on performance in cognitive scale, receptive language, gross and fine motor. However, the infants at risk for ASD performed significantly (p≤0,05) more poorly than infants from control group on expressive language. No differences were found between female infants at risk for ASD and female infants from control group on expressive language.

The obtained results show that male infants at risk for ASD have deficit in expressive language at 14 months of age. It is possible that delay in development of expressive language can be early markers for ASD.

It is known that children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) have deficit in sustained attention. It is important to develop trainings for improving sustained attention in ADD children. It was shown that yoga exercises have positive effect on sustained attention in adults.

The gaol of this study was to reveal effect of yoga exercises on sustained attention in 7-8 years of age children with ADD. We compared the efficacy of two methods of treatment (yoga exercises vs. conventional motor exercises) in a randomized controlled pilot study.

18 children with ADD at the age of 7-8 years were included and randomly assigned to treatment conditions according to a 2×2 crossover design. Children from intervention group participated in 8 weeks of yoga exercises. To assess the sustained attention we used subtest from Luria’s child neuropsychological battery. This subtest is designed to assess visual sustained attention.. Effects of treatment were analyzed by means of an ANOVA for repeated measurements.

The ANOVA has revealed (p<.05) that for sustained attention subtest the yoga exercises were superior to the conventional motor training, with effect sizes in the medium-to-high range (0.39-0.77).

The findings from this pilot study suggest that yoga exercises have positive effect on sustained attention in 7-8 years of age children with ADD. However, it is necessary to do further research to reveal the impact of yoga exercises on the prevention and treatment of attention deficit disorder in children.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare workers experienced significant distress. At the same time, concern for the safety and well-being of employees remained important priorities to ensure the quality of care for children with mental illness.

To study the specifics of the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic among employees of a children’s psychiatric clinic, highlight the existing among them attitudes about the pandemic and form administrative decisions to improve the quality of care for children.

380 employees voluntarily took part in the study (group 1 (G1): 115 people who worked directly with Covid-19 and group 2 (G2): 265 people without this experience) from 05/18/2020 to 05/20/2020. The author’s questionnaire included the following blocks: 1) attitude towards patients and colleagues; 2) emotional experiences; 3) ways of coping; 4) social support; 4) finance.

The main motive when deciding to work with Covid-19 was the motive of professional duty (25.4% of participants). There are a number of significant differences between group 1 and group 2: participants in G1 are characterized by denial of special experiences associated with Covid-19, seeking help from colleagues in difficult working conditions, reliance on family members and a positive vision of administrative decisions significantly more than participants G2. Relatives of G1 participants are less concerned about their future and health.

The personnel decisions made on the basis of the research allowed the clinic’s team to provide quality care to children and families throughout the pandemic.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. Its underlying causes and pathophysiologies remain unclear. Recent data support the potential involvement of neuroinflammation in the onset of this disorder.

The aim of our study was to investigate the potential link between ASD and inflammatory mediators.

This descriptive study was conducted among ASD outpatients followed-up at the child and adolescent psychiatry department in the Military Hospital of Instruction of Tunis. Blood samples were collected for inflammatory cytokines dosage, notably the interleukin 1β (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α) immunodosage.

Twenty-four patients were included in this study, aged between four and ten years old (mean age= 6,55 years; minimum=4; maximum=10 years). Our sample was mainly represented by male patients (95,6%). TNF-α plasmatic levels were high (>5pg/mL) among all of our sample with a mean of 11,6 pg/mL (minimum= 6,87; maximum=17,7 pg/mL; standard deviation= 3,52 pg/mL), suggesting abnormal peripheral blood mononuclear cells response. However, IL-1β and IL-6 plasmatic levels were relatively normal.

An immune response dysregulation was detected in our sample. Multiple clinical and experimental studies investigated the implication of inflammatory cytokines in neurodevelopmental disruption. Their results, however, remain controversial and limited by small samples. Further studies need to be done in order to investigate the neuroimmunological factors linked with ASD.

The evaluation of the distribution of pathologies according to gender in child and adolescent psychiatry remains an interesting question both for epidemiological and etiopathogenic research.

The objective of our work was to study the influence of gender on the psychopathological expression of disorders in children and adolescents.

A retrospective study was conducted at the outpatient child psychiatry department at the Tahar Sfar University Hospital in Mahdia, Tunisia, among patients who consulted for the first time during the period from January 2015 to December 2017. To carry out this work, we used a pre-established form evaluating the sociodemographic and clinical information. We opted for grouping diagnoses according to axis I of the DSM IV- TR.

We collected 577 cases: 231 girls, and 346 boys. The analysis of the results showed a male predominance (60% of our sample were boys). A significant difference in diagnosis relating to gender was found (p = 0.02). In fact, boys were more likely to have pervasive developmental disorders, mental retardation and externalizing disorders, while girls were more likely to develop sleep and eating disorders and internalizing disorders such as mood disorders.

Demonstrating the existence of a significant gender distribution of pathologies in adolescent and child psychiatry is certainly of real importance in the context of epidemiological, clinical and etiopathogenic research. However, it would be more efficient to further investigate other epidemiological and socio-cultural data in order to better specify the involvement of each of these factors in the emergence of psychopathology.

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high levels of anxiety. However, inconsistencies between parent and child reports may complicate the assessment of anxiety in this population.

The aim of this study is to investigate discrepancies between parent and self-reported anxiety among children with high functioning ASD.

Children aged between 8 and16 years with high functioning ASD, followed in the outpatient unite of child psychiatry at the University Hospital of Monastir, Tunisia and their parents, were invited to complete the Arabic version of the Anxiety Scale for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASC-ASD). The ASC-ASD is a 24-item questionnaire with six sub-scales, designed specifically for the assessment of anxiety symptomatology in children with ASD. A total score of ≥ 20 indicate significant levels of anxiety.

We recruited 66 children and their parents. The mean age was 10 years old. High rates of anxiety were found: children’s reports revealed that 70% of them present anxiety and 60 % were coated anxious by parent’s reports. Performance Anxiety, Uncertainty and Social Anxiety were the most frequent types of anxiety reported by both parents and children. We did not find a significant difference between the parents and children rating of anxiety except for the apprehension subscale.

This is one of the first studies to compare between parent and self-reported anxiety among children with ASD using an autism-specific measure of anxiety. No discrepancies have been found between parents and children report, however others studies are needed to investigate discrepancies in children with severe ASD.