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Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology

Gepubliceerd in:

12-02-2024

Autistic and Non-autistic Children’s Pain Perception is Modulated by Their First-Hand Pain Sensitivity and Theory of Mind

Auteurs: Tianbi Li, Qianhan Xiong, Ruoxi Shi, Li Yi

Gepubliceerd in: Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology | Uitgave 7/2024

Abstract

The current study examined whether autistic children’s perception of others’ pain could be modulated by their first-hand pain sensitivity and theory of mind (ToM). We measured the first-hand pain sensitivity, the rating of others’ pain intensity, and the performance in the ToM tasks in 43 5- to 8-year-old autistic and 30 neurotypical children. Our results revealed hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, underestimation of others’ pain intensity, as well as difficulties in the False Belief subtasks of ToM in autistic children. Furthermore, we detected an interaction between children’s first-hand pain sensitivity and ToM in predicting their perception of others’ pain. To be specific, for autistic and NT children with normal or hyper-sensitivity to first-hand pain, better performance on ToM predicted higher ratings for others’ pain intensity; while for autistic and NT children with hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, ToM did not predict ratings for others’ pain intensity. Our study contributes to the understanding of pain perception in young children and provides implications for clinical practices to improve social understanding in autistic children.

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Titel: Autistic and Non-autistic Children’s Pain Perception is Modulated by Their First-Hand Pain Sensitivity and Theory of Mind
Auteurs: Tianbi Li
Qianhan Xiong
Ruoxi Shi
Li Yi
Publicatiedatum: 12-02-2024
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology / Uitgave 7/2024
Print ISSN: 2730-7166
Elektronisch ISSN: 2730-7174
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01176-y

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