Refining the Classification of Children with Selective Mutism: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop an empirically derived classification system for selective mutism (SM) using parent-report measures of social anxiety, behavior problems, and communication delays. The sample consisted of parents of 130 children (ages 5-12) with SM. Results from latent profile analysis supported a 3-class solution made up of an anxious-mildly oppositional group, an anxious-communication delayed group, and an exclusively anxious group. Follow-up tests indicated significant group differences on measures of SM symptom severity, externalizing problems, and expressive/receptive language abilities. These results suggest that, although social anxiety is typically a prominent feature of SM, children with the disorder are also likely to present with communication delays and/or mild behavior problems.

Selective Mutism: The Fraternal Twin of Childhood Social Phobia

“…In their clinical experience, they were often reported by parents who place pressure on the child to speak, because they interpret their child's mutism as stubborn or controlling in nature. Results may thus provide preliminary support for the idea of substantially different behavioral problems of children with SM from children with exclusively oppositional defiant or conduct disorder [25]. …”

“…A latent profile analysis of children with SM [25] proposed an anxious-mildly oppositional subgroup, even though mean scores of the ECBI were still well below the clinical range. No correlation between the CBCL externalizing and ECBI scores were found.…”

Selektiver Mutismus bei mehrsprachigen Kindern

“…Soziale Ängstlichkeit ist das wohl am häufigsten mit SM assoziierten psychische Phä-nomen (siehe etwa Black & Uhde, 1995;Cohan et al, 2008;Dummit et al, 1997;Kristensen, häufigste Diagnose ist (Andersson & Thomsen, 1998;Bergman et al, 2002;Black & Uhde, 1995;Chavira et al, 2007;Cunningham, McHolm & Boyle, 2006;Kristensen, 2000;Manassis et al, 2007;Vecchio & Kearney, 2005;Yeganeh, Beidel & Turner, 2006 (Yeganeh et al, 2006;Yeganeh, Beidel, Turner, Pina & Silverman, 2003). In einer ersten Studie (Yeganeh et al, 2003) In allen Studien wird deutlich, dass soziale Ängstlichkeit bei einer Vielzahl von Kindern mit SM ein komorbides Phänomen darstellt.…”

“…Aufgrund der großen Varianz innerhalb der Prädiktor-und Outcomevariablen für die selektiv mutistischen Kinder, werden im Folgenden diese sieben Kinder nochmals einzeln betrachtet und anschließend den Subgruppen nach Cohan et al (2008) Abbildung 18 zeigt im Überblick das Vorgehen bei der Modellspezifikation. (Field, 2013).…”

Considering Development in Developmental Disorders

“…Here, longitudinal methods can map unique developmental pathways, and statistical techniques such as latent-class growth curve modeling (McArdle & Epstein, 1987) or latent profile analysis (Cohan et al, 2008) can detect meaningful subgroups. For example, children with language delays can either catch up with their peers or continue to struggle; and these two groups follow different developmental pathways (Rice, 2004).…”