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Friday, May 8, 2009
Northwest Hall (Chicago Hilton)
12:00 PM
Background: The Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ) is a brief, self-administered instrument for quantifying the number of autistic traits in adults with normal intelligence.
In particular, the AQ measures where a person lies on a continuum of social-communication disability, in clinical samples and the general population.
The instrument demonstrates high reliability and remarkable cross-cultural stability in both Japanese and British culture, with the Japanese AQ mean scores higher than the British.
Objectives: To investigate the distribution of autistic traits and the broader autism phenotype (BAP) in a sample of Italian parents of typically developing children and parents of children affected by Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC).
Methods: A group of 545 participants matched for age, including the parents of children with ASC (115 fathers and 130 mothers) and typically developing children (150 fathers and 150 mothers) filled out the Italian version of the AQ.
The Italian AQ was translated using a back translation procedure. The questionnaire was completed during outpatient visits at Catania University Hospital in the ASC group. The control group (CG) was recruited from three large public mainstream schools in the city centre and the province of Catania, attended by multicultural pupils and the questionnaires were sent out by mail or email to the CG parents.
Results: A main effect of group and sex was demonstrated for the total AQ and the subscales of Social Skill, Communication and Imagination, with ASC parents scoring significantly higher than CG parents. In particular, ASC fathers scored the highest, ASC mothers scored similar to CG fathers and CG mothers scored the lowest. Finally, males scored significantly higher than females.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that despite being tested in a culturally different population (Italy), ASC parents displayed more autistic traits than parents of typically developing children. This confirms the liability for autism expressed by non-autistic relatives, in a phenotype that is milder but qualitatively similar to the defining features of autism (BAP). This study also replicates the finding that males report more autistic traits compared to females, in line with the “Extreme Male Brain Theory” of autism.
In particular, the AQ measures where a person lies on a continuum of social-communication disability, in clinical samples and the general population.
The instrument demonstrates high reliability and remarkable cross-cultural stability in both Japanese and British culture, with the Japanese AQ mean scores higher than the British.
Objectives: To investigate the distribution of autistic traits and the broader autism phenotype (BAP) in a sample of Italian parents of typically developing children and parents of children affected by Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC).
Methods: A group of 545 participants matched for age, including the parents of children with ASC (115 fathers and 130 mothers) and typically developing children (150 fathers and 150 mothers) filled out the Italian version of the AQ.
The Italian AQ was translated using a back translation procedure. The questionnaire was completed during outpatient visits at Catania University Hospital in the ASC group. The control group (CG) was recruited from three large public mainstream schools in the city centre and the province of Catania, attended by multicultural pupils and the questionnaires were sent out by mail or email to the CG parents.
Results: A main effect of group and sex was demonstrated for the total AQ and the subscales of Social Skill, Communication and Imagination, with ASC parents scoring significantly higher than CG parents. In particular, ASC fathers scored the highest, ASC mothers scored similar to CG fathers and CG mothers scored the lowest. Finally, males scored significantly higher than females.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that despite being tested in a culturally different population (Italy), ASC parents displayed more autistic traits than parents of typically developing children. This confirms the liability for autism expressed by non-autistic relatives, in a phenotype that is milder but qualitatively similar to the defining features of autism (BAP). This study also replicates the finding that males report more autistic traits compared to females, in line with the “Extreme Male Brain Theory” of autism.