scholarly journals Self-Reported Autistic Traits Using the AQ: A Comparison between Individuals with ASD, Psychosis, and Non-Clinical Controls

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fusar-Poli ◽  
Alessia Ciancio ◽  
Alberto Gabbiadini ◽  
Valeria Meo ◽  
Federica Patania ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽  
Discriminant Ability ◽  
Core Symptoms ◽  
Adults With Asd ◽  
Attention To Detail

The term “autism” was originally coined by Eugen Bleuler to describe one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia. Even if autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are now considered two distinct conditions, they share some clinical features. The present study aimed to investigate self-reported autistic traits in individuals with ASD, SSD, and non-clinical controls (NCC), using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a 50-item questionnaire. The study was conducted in the Psychiatry Unit of Policlinico “G. Rodolico”, Catania, Italy. The AQ was administered to 35 adults with ASD, 64 with SSD, and 198 NCC. Overall, our data showed that the ASD sample scored significantly higher than NCC. However, no significant differences were detected between individuals with ASD and SSD. Notably, the three groups scored similarly in the subscale “attention to detail”. AQ showed good accuracy in differentiating ASD from NCC (AUC = 0.84), while discriminant ability was poor in the clinical sample (AUC = 0.63). Finally, AQ did not correlate with clinician-rated ADOS-2 scores in the ASD sample. Our study confirms that symptoms are partially overlapping in adults with ASD and psychosis. Moreover, they raise concerns regarding the usefulness of AQ as a screening tool in clinical populations.

scholarly journals The 2D : 4D Digit Ratio as a Biomarker for Autism Spectrum Disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mackus ◽  
D. de Kruijff ◽  
L. S. Otten ◽  
A. D. Kraneveld ◽  
J. Garssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ring Finger ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Subscale Score ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Digit Ratio ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Attention Switching ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attention To Detail

It has been suggested that the second (2D, index finger) to fourth (4D, ring finger) digit ratio, 2D : 4D, may be a biomarker for the risk of developing autism. The aim of the current study was to determine the usefulness of the 2D : 4D digit ratio as biomarker for autistic traits. N=401 healthy young volunteers participated in the study. For both hands, digit lengths were measured using digital Vernier calipers. In addition to demographics, the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) questionnaire was completed, comprised of five subscales, assessing “social insights and behavior,” “attention switching,” “communication,” “imagination,” and “attention to detail.” Overall, no significant correlations were observed between the AQ total score, its subscales, and the 2D : 4D digit ratio. For women, the left hand 2D : 4D digit ratio correlated significantly with the subscale score “communication” (r=-0.142; p=0.036). For men, a significant positive correlation was found between the left 2D : 4D digit ratio and the total AQ score (r=0.157; p=0.042) and AQ subscale “attention switching” (r=0.182; p=0.017). In conclusion, gender specific associations between the 2D : 4D digit ratio and specific autism traits were observed, which were stronger in men than in women. Future studies should be conducted in patients that are formally diagnosed with autism.

Friendship Quality and Social Participation in Young Adults With ASD

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 7512510246p1-7512510246p1
Author(s):  
Megan C. Chang ◽  
Evelyn Lechner ◽  
Megan Leu ◽  
Julianne Maraccini ◽  
Carrie Oxaal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Adults With Asd ◽  
Primary Author

Abstract Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. The purpose of this study is to obtain deeper understanding of the challenges that young adults with autism spectrum disorder endure in their pursuit of establishing friendships. A mixed-methods study design was used. Participants were interviewed and completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Results showed that the participants still showed autistic traits, although each AQ component was similar to the norms. Three themes were emerged from the interview: intrinsic value of friendship, friendship as a partnership, Primary Author and Speaker: Megan C. Chang Additional Authors and Speakers: Evelyn Lechner, Megan Leu, Julianne Maraccini, Carrie Oxaal, and Jessica Patterson

scholarly journals Mediating effects of self-stigma and depression on the association between autistic symptoms and recovery in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a cross-sectional study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Komatsu ◽  
Takashi Ono ◽  
Goh Onoguchi ◽  
Hiroaki Tomita ◽  
Yoshihisa Kakuto
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽  
Stereotype Endorsement ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Autistic Symptoms ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

Abstract Background Several studies have indicated that self-stigma is associated with depressive symptoms and could be a barrier to recovery in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. More recently, an association between autistic symptoms and self-stigma was found in schizophrenia-spectrum patients. This study aimed to investigate the association between self-stigma, autistic and depressive symptoms, and recovery in patients with schizophrenia. Methods In total, 105 participants were evaluated using the Autism Spectrum Quotient, the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale, the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, and the Recovery Assessment Scale to investigate autistic symptoms, self-stigma, depressive symptoms, and recovery, respectively. The relationship between self-stigma, autistic symptoms, depressive symptoms, and recovery was assessed using structural equation modeling analysis. Results Impaired attention switching, one symptom of autism, was found to positively affect stereotype endorsement, which negatively influenced recovery through depressive symptoms. Moreover, problems with communication skills negatively affected recovery through depressive symptoms. Concerning self-stigma, stereotype endorsement and perceived discrimination had a negative effect on recovery through depressive symptoms, whereas stigma resistance had a direct negative effect on recovery. Conclusions This study may provide meaningful insight into the psychological structure of recovery and could inform effective interventions for patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. This was a cross-sectionally designed study; therefore, further longitudinal studies are needed to identify the causal relationships between self-stigma, autistic and depressive symptoms, and recovery.

scholarly journals Internal reliability, homogeneity, and factor structure of the ten-item Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10) with two additional response categories

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Bertrams
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Attention To Detail

Abstract The ten-item short form of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10) has been used to efficiently assess autistic traits in the general population; however, the psychometric properties of the AQ-10 in terms of its internal reliability and its unifactorial structure have recently been questioned. In the present study (N = 797), whether the internal reliability is increased when the AQ-10 is applied with six rather than the conventional four response categories has been investigated. Moreover, correlational and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the reason for potential inhomogeneity within the AQ-10. The results suggest that the internal reliability of the AQ-10 was slightly increased but is still unsatisfactory, likely due to the incompatibility of items from two subdimensions: attention to detail and imagination. With six of the AQ-10 items, crucial aspects of the autistic personality may be measured, but other important aspects would be neglected; thus, the measure requires further psychometric development.

scholarly journals The relationship between affective visual mismatch negativity to interpersonal difficulties across autism and schizotypal traits

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talitha C. Ford ◽  
Laila E. Hugrass ◽  
Bradley N. Jack
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽  
Interpersonal Difficulties ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractSensory deficits are a feature of autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders and are also common at the upper end of their non-clinical spectra. The mismatch negativity (MMN), an index of preattentive auditory processing, is particularly sensitive in detecting such deficits; however, little is known about the relationship between the visual MMN (vMMN) to emotional faces and the specific traits that exist within the spectrum disorders. We probed the vMMN to happy, sad, and neutral faces in 77 young adults (18-40 years) and found that the vMMN to happy faces (happy standard minus happy deviant stimuli) was significantly larger than the vMMNs to sad and neutral faces (p > 0.05). We also found a significant correlation between vMMN to happy faces and interpersonal difficulties as indexed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Communication and Attention to Detail subscales, and Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) Interpersonal Features (p < 0.05). These findings suggest a specificity of preattentive processing of positive affect to interpersonal features across the autism and schizophrenia spectrum.

scholarly journals The Relation Between Autistic Traits, the Degree of Synaesthesia, and Local/Global Visual Perception

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floor Burghoorn ◽  
Mark Dingemanse ◽  
Rob van Lier ◽  
Tessa M. van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Local Bias ◽  
Embedded Figures ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Attention To Detail

Abstract Synaesthesia is highly prevalent in autism spectrum disorder. We assessed the relation between the degree of autistic traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient, AQ) and the degree of synaesthesia in a neurotypical population, and hypothesized both are related to a local bias in visual perception. A positive correlation between total AQ scores and the degree of synaesthesia was found, extending previous studies in clinical populations. Consistent with our hypothesis, AQ-attention to detail scores were related to increased performance on an Embedded Figures Task and reduced susceptibility to visual illusions. We found no relation between autistic traits and performance on a motion coherence task, and no relation between synaesthesia and local visual perception. Possibly, this relation is reserved for supra-threshold synaesthetes.

Cerebellar dysfunction, cognitive flexibility and autistic traits in a non-clinical sample

Autism ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 728-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Ridley ◽  
Judi Homewood ◽  
Jenny Walters
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Motor Tasks ◽  
Cerebellar Dysfunction ◽  
Spectrum Hypothesis ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
The Relationship

Cerebellar dysfunction and impaired cognitive flexibility are key features of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, despite the increasing interest in subclinical autism, no research has yet examined the relationship between these signs and autistic traits in the wider population. This study used the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) questionnaire to assess autistic traits in university students enrolled in either systems-oriented or humanities degree programmes. Participants also completed a battery of motor tasks designed to assess cerebellar function, and subscales from the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) battery. Students enrolled in systems-oriented degrees had on average higher AQ scores than students enrolled in humanities degrees. The data showed a significant correlation between autistic traits and motor function scores, as well as between autistic traits and verbal set-shifting ability, as assessed on the D-KEFS. These data provide support for the autistic spectrum hypothesis, in indicating that key cognitive, neurological and behavioural features of autism carry over into non-clinical populations.

scholarly journals Diachronic Tendency and Thinking Style Across the Broader Autism Spectrum: Sources of Individual Differences?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stian Orm ◽  
Ella Holt Holmberg ◽  
Paul L. Harris ◽  
Maria Nunez ◽  
Francisco Pons
Keyword(s):  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Broader Autism Phenotype ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Thinking Style ◽  
Mental Images ◽  
High School Degree ◽  
Future Events

Abstract Objectives First, to see whether previous studies showing a limited capacity to spontaneously evoke the past and the future of a present moment (diachronic tendency) and a prevalence of mental images over inner speech (thinking style) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder could be replicated in individuals belonging to the broader autism phenotype. Second, to test the hypothesis that individuals thinking with mental images have a more limited diachronic tendency compared with individuals thinking with inner speech. Methods Adults (N = 309, Mage = 31.5 years, 76% women) with at least a high school degree were assessed with the Autism Spectrum Quotient, a test of diachronic tendency comprising four pictures varying in social interactivity and dynamicity, and a thinking style scale comprising three items representing three different everyday situations. Results The results showed that adults with many autistic traits have a limited diachronic tendency but only when the situation is socially interactive and dynamic, think more in mental images than individuals with no or few autistic traits but nevertheless still think more with inner speech than with mental images, and the more the participants reported thinking in inner speech, the more they evoked past and future events when describing a socially interactive and dynamic situation. Conclusions More autistic traits are associated with a limited diachronic tendency in socially interactive and dynamic situations and more thinking in mental images, and thinking style could be one of the determinants of diachronic tendency in socially interactive and dynamic situations.

scholarly journals The Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI): development and validation of a new measure of autistic traits in the general population

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. W. English ◽  
Gilles E. Gignac ◽  
Troy A. W. Visser ◽  
Andrew J. O. Whitehouse ◽  
James T. Enns ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
General Population ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽  
Sensory Sensitivity ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Background Traits and characteristics qualitatively similar to those seen in diagnosed autism spectrum disorder can be found to varying degrees in the general population. To measure these traits and facilitate their use in autism research, several questionnaires have been developed that provide broad measures of autistic traits [e.g. Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ)]. However, since their development, our understanding of autism has grown considerably, and it is arguable that existing measures do not provide an ideal representation of the trait dimensions currently associated with autism. Our aim was to create a new measure of autistic traits that reflects our current understanding of autism, the Comprehensive Autism Trait Inventory (CATI). Methods In Study 1, 107 pilot items were administered to 1119 individuals in the general population and exploratory factor analysis of responses used to create the 42-item CATI comprising six subscales: Social Interactions, Communication, Social Camouflage, Repetitive Behaviours, Cognitive Rigidity, and Sensory Sensitivity. In Study 2, the CATI was administered to 1068 new individuals and confirmatory factor analysis used to verify the factor structure. The AQ and BAPQ were administered to validate the CATI, and additional autistic participants were recruited to compare the predictive ability of the measures. In Study 3, to validate the CATI subscales, the CATI was administered to 195 new individuals along with existing valid measures qualitatively similar to each CATI subscale. Results The CATI showed convergent validity at both the total-scale (r ≥ .79) and subscale level (r ≥ .68). The CATI also showed superior internal reliability for total-scale scores (α = .95) relative to the AQ (α = .90) and BAPQ (α = .94), consistently high reliability for subscales (α > .81), greater predictive ability for classifying autism (Youden’s Index = .62 vs .56–.59), and demonstrated measurement invariance for sex. Limitations Analyses of predictive ability for classifying autism depended upon self-reported diagnosis or identification of autism. The autistic sample was not large enough to test measurement invariance of autism diagnosis. Conclusions The CATI is a reliable and economical new measure that provides observations across a wide range of trait dimensions associated with autism, potentially precluding the need to administer multiple measures, and to our knowledge, the CATI is also the first broad measure of autistic traits to have dedicated subscales for social camouflage and sensory sensitivity.

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