Greimel Ellen, Schulte-Rüther Martin, Kamp-Becker Inge, Remschmidt Helmut, Herpertz-Dahlmann Beate, Konrad Kerstin
Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Klinische Neuropsychologie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Universitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen.
Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother. 2011 Mar;39(2):113-21. doi: 10.1024/1422-4917/a000097.
A deficit in empathy has repeatedly been described as a central feature of autistic disorders. However, little is known about how adolescents with autism evaluate their own empathic abilities, and how their parents judge these skills. The present study assesses affective components of empathy via both self-report and parental report.
18 boys with autism and 18 typically developing boys participated in the study. A German translation of the Bryant Index of Empathy was used for the self-assessment of empathy. Parents rated the empathic abilities of their sons using a German version of the Griffith Empathy Measure. Both questionnaires are comparable with regards to content and mainly tap into affective components of empathy.
Self-reports of empathy in adolescents with autism did not differ from controls. In contrast, parents of adolescents with autism judged their sons to be less empathic compared to parents of typically developing adolescents.
The discrepancy between unimpaired self-reported empathy and parental report of impaired empathy in adolescents with autism might result from their difficulties in effectively conveying empathic feelings to other people. Alternatively, the results may be explained by impaired introspection on inner experiences in individuals with autism.
共情缺陷一直被反复描述为自闭症谱系障碍的核心特征。然而，对于自闭症青少年如何评估自己的共情能力，以及他们的父母如何评判这些技能，我们却知之甚少。本研究通过自我报告和父母报告评估共情的情感成分。
18名患有自闭症的男孩和18名发育正常的男孩参与了本研究。使用Bryant共情指数的德文译本进行共情的自我评估。父母使用德文版的格里菲斯共情量表对儿子的共情能力进行评分。两份问卷在内容上具有可比性，主要涉及共情的情感成分。
自闭症青少年的共情自我报告与对照组没有差异。相比之下，自闭症青少年的父母认为他们的儿子比发育正常青少年的父母所认为的共情能力更弱。
自闭症青少年自我报告的共情未受损与父母报告的共情受损之间的差异，可能是由于他们难以有效地向他人传达共情感受。或者，结果也可以用自闭症患者对内心体验的内省受损来解释。
