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A twin study of autism symptoms in Sweden

Molecular Psychiatry volume 16, pages 1039–1047 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

This study aimed to identify empirically the number of factors underlying autism symptoms—social impairments, communication impairments, and restricted repetitive behaviors and interests—when assessed in a general population sample. It also investigated to what extent these autism symptoms are caused by the same or different genetic and environmental influences. Autistic symptoms were assessed in a population-based twin cohort of >12 000 (9- and 12-year-old) children by parental interviews. Confirmatory factor analyses, principal component analyses and multivariate structural equation model fitting were carried out. A multiple factor solution was suggested, with nearly all analyses pointing to a three-factor model for both boys and girls and at both ages. A common pathway twin model fit the data best, which showed that there were some underlying common genetic and environmental influences across the different autism dimensions, but also significant specific genetic effects on each symptom type. These results suggest that the autism triad consists of three partly independent dimensions when assessed in the general population, and that these different autism symptoms, to a considerable extent, have partly separate genetic influences. These findings may explain the large number of children who do not meet current criteria for autism but who show some autism symptoms. Molecular genetic research may benefit from taking a symptom-specific approach to finding genes associated with autism.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participants of CATSS. This study was supported in part by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Swedish Research Council. HL was supported by a postdoctoral stipend from the Swedish Brain Foundation and the Karolinska Institutet Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Stockholm. AR was funded by the Royal Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

    A Ronald

  2. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    H Larsson

  3. Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgren's Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    H Anckarsäter

  4. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    P Lichtenstein

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  1. A Ronald
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Correspondence to A Ronald.

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Ronald, A., Larsson, H., Anckarsäter, H. et al. A twin study of autism symptoms in Sweden. Mol Psychiatry 16, 1039–1047 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.82

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