Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
PLoS One. 2011;6(8):e23029. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023029. Epub 2011 Aug 4.
There is accumulating evidence that autistic traits (AT) are on a continuum in the general population, with clinical autism representing the extreme end of a quantitative distribution. While the nature and severity of symptoms in clinical autism are known to persist over time, no study has examined the long-term stability of AT among typically developing toddlers. The current investigation measured AT in 360 males and 400 males from the general population close to two decades apart, using the Pervasive Developmental Disorder subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist in early childhood (M = 2.14 years; SD = 0.15), and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient in early adulthood (M = 19.50 years; SD = 0.70). Items from each scale were further divided into social (difficulties with social interaction and communication) and non-social (restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests) AT. The association between child and adult measurements of AT as well the influence of potentially confounding sociodemographic, antenatal and obstetric variables were assessed using Pearson's correlations and linear regression. For males, Total AT in early childhood were positively correlated with total AT (r = .16, p = .002) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) in adulthood. There was also a positive correlation for males between social AT measured in early childhood and Total (r = .17, p = .001) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) measured in adulthood. Correlations for non-social AT did not achieve significance in males. Furthermore, there was no significant longitudinal association in AT observed for males or females. Despite the constraints of using different measures and different raters at the two ages, this study found modest developmental stability of social AT from early childhood to adulthood in boys.
越来越多的证据表明，自闭症特质（AT）在普通人群中呈连续分布，临床自闭症代表了数量分布的极端。虽然临床自闭症的症状的性质和严重程度已知会随着时间的推移而持续存在，但尚无研究检查过在典型发育的幼儿中自闭症特质的长期稳定性。目前的研究使用儿童行为检查表的广泛性发育障碍子量表在接近二十年的时间内分别测量了来自普通人群的 360 名男性和 400 名男性的自闭症特质（幼儿期 M = 2.14 岁；SD = 0.15），以及在成年早期使用自闭症谱系商数（M = 19.50 岁；SD = 0.70）。每个量表的项目进一步分为社交（社交互动和沟通困难）和非社交（受限和重复行为和兴趣）自闭症特质。使用 Pearson 相关系数和线性回归评估了儿童和成年自闭症特质测量之间的关联，以及潜在的混杂社会人口统计学、产前和产科变量的影响。对于男性，幼儿期的自闭症特质总分与成年期的自闭症特质总分（r =.16，p =.002）和社交自闭症特质（r =.16，p =.002）呈正相关。在男性中，幼儿期的社交自闭症特质与成年期的自闭症特质总分（r =.17，p =.001）和社交自闭症特质（r =.16，p =.002）也呈正相关。对于非社交自闭症特质，相关性在男性中未达到显著水平。此外，在男性或女性中都没有观察到自闭症特质的显著纵向关联。尽管在两个年龄段使用不同的测量方法和不同的评估者存在限制，但本研究发现男孩从幼儿期到成年期的社交自闭症特质具有适度的发展稳定性。
