Wang Xin, Auyeung Bonnie, Pan Ning, Lin Li-Zi, Chen Qian, Chen Jia-Jie, Liu Si-Yu, Dai Mei-Xia, Gong Jian-Hua, Li Xiu-Hong, Jing Jin
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 25;13:844578. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.844578. eCollection 2022.
Previous research has suggested that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display fewer prosocial behaviors, and the role of empathy or Theory of Mind (ToM) in prosocial behaviors of autistic children remains unclear.
Data were obtained from an ongoing longitudinal study in Guangzhou, China. A total of 96 autistic children and 167 typically developing (TD) children were enrolled. Prosocial behaviors were assessed using a subscale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and Dictator Game (DG) paradigm with stickers as incentives. Empathic traits and ToM ability were measured using the children's Empathy Quotient and the Chinese version of ToM toolkit. Generalized linear models were used to assess the differences of prosocial behaviors and empathic traits, ToM ability between the two groups and the associations between empathic traits, ToM ability and prosocial behaviors in autistic children.
Compared with TD children, autistic children exhibited worse ToM ability and performed less pro-socially in the DG paradigm, while there were no differences regarding empathic traits. In autistic children, empathic traits especially affective empathy, were positively associated with parent-reported prosocial behaviors [β = 0.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.07-0.27; β = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.33-0.60]. ToM ability was associated with DG paradigm (β = 1.03, 95%CI: 0.16-1.89).
Autistic children showed less pro-sociality and ToM ability than TD children. In autistic children, empathic trait was associated with parent-reported prosocial behaviors while their ToM ability was associated with prosocial behaviors in experimental condition. Our findings indicated that better ToM ability and empathic trait might promote prosocial behaviors in autistic children.
先前的研究表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童表现出的亲社会行为较少，而同理心或心理理论（ToM）在自闭症儿童亲社会行为中的作用仍不明确。
数据来自中国广州一项正在进行的纵向研究。共纳入96名自闭症儿童和167名发育正常（TD）儿童。使用优势与困难问卷的一个子量表和独裁者游戏（DG）范式，以贴纸作为奖励来评估亲社会行为。使用儿童同理心商数和中文版ToM工具包来测量同理心特质和ToM能力。采用广义线性模型评估两组之间亲社会行为、同理心特质、ToM能力的差异，以及自闭症儿童同理心特质、ToM能力与亲社会行为之间的关联。
与TD儿童相比，自闭症儿童的ToM能力较差，在DG范式中亲社会行为表现较少，而在同理心特质方面没有差异。在自闭症儿童中，同理心特质尤其是情感同理心，与家长报告的亲社会行为呈正相关[β = 0.17，95%置信区间（CI）：0.07 - 0.27；β = 0.47，95%CI：0.33 - 0.60]。ToM能力与DG范式相关（β = 1.03，95%CI：0.16 - 1.89）。
自闭症儿童比TD儿童表现出更少的亲社会性和ToM能力。在自闭症儿童中，同理心特质与家长报告的亲社会行为相关，而他们的ToM能力与实验条件下的亲社会行为相关。我们的研究结果表明，更好的ToM能力和同理心特质可能促进自闭症儿童的亲社会行为。
