Empathy and Anxiety in Young Girls with Fragile X Syndrome

We measured parent-reported empathy and self-reported anxiety in young girls with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and in an age-, sex-, adaptive behavior-, autism-, and IQ-matched comparison group. Girls with FXS received higher parent-reported scores on cognitive and affective empathy but also self-reported more severe anxiety symptoms, particularly separation anxiety and phobia symptoms, than girls in the comparison group. Girls with FXS who received higher cognitive empathy scores, however, appeared buffered against risk for separation anxiety and phobia symptoms. Girls with FXS experience elevated empathy and anxiety relative to their developmentally-matched peers. Furthermore, higher cognitive empathy in girls with FXS may confer resilience against specific forms of anxiety that are commonly observed in FXS.