Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, China.
Department of Child Psychiatry of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen Mental Health Center, School of Mental Health, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518003, China.
Behav Brain Res. 2021 Apr 23;404:113142. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113142. Epub 2021 Jan 27.
The mechanism underlying the relationship between autistic traits and social anxiety still remains unknown. It is therefore necessary to investigate potential psychological and biological mechanisms. A total of 2695 college students were samples for this research during 2017-2018. The assessed variables included demographic characteristics and measures of autistic traits, sense of security, coping styles, and social anxiety. Blood samples were collected from which DNA was extracted. Regression analysis indicated that autistic traits and negative coping were positively associated with social anxiety; furthermore, positive coping, interpersonal security, and sense of control were negatively associated with social anxiety. Further analyses demonstrated that the relationship between autistic traits and social anxiety was mediated by coping styles (both positive coping and negative coping) and sense of security (both interpersonal security and sense of control), and coping style predicted the sense of security. The FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) gene rs3800373 moderated the association between autistic traits and social anxiety. The present study is the first to demonstrate that both coping style and sense of security play an intermediate role between autistic traits and social anxiety in a sample of Chinese college students; moreover, the FKBP5 gene moderates this association between autistic traits and social anxiety.
自闭症特质与社交焦虑之间关系的潜在心理和生物学机制尚不清楚。因此，有必要对此进行调查。2017-2018 年，共有 2695 名大学生作为本研究的样本。评估的变量包括人口统计学特征以及自闭症特质、安全感、应对方式和社交焦虑的测量。采集血液样本并从中提取 DNA。回归分析表明，自闭症特质和消极应对方式与社交焦虑呈正相关；此外，积极应对方式、人际安全感和控制感与社交焦虑呈负相关。进一步的分析表明，自闭症特质与社交焦虑之间的关系是由应对方式（积极应对方式和消极应对方式）和安全感（人际安全感和控制感）介导的，而应对方式可以预测安全感。FK506 结合蛋白 5（FKBP5）基因 rs3800373 调节了自闭症特质与社交焦虑之间的关联。本研究首次表明，在一个中国大学生样本中，应对方式和安全感均在自闭症特质与社交焦虑之间发挥中介作用；此外，FKBP5 基因调节了自闭症特质与社交焦虑之间的这种关联。
