05-10-2018 | Original Paper | Uitgave 1/2019 Open Access

Stability of Autistic Traits from 5 to 8 Years of Age Among Children in the General Population
- Tijdschrift:
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders > Uitgave 1/2019
Methods
Participants and Procedure
Autistic Traits
Sociodemographic Factors
Data Analyses
Results
Sample Characteristics
N (%)
|
Mean (SD) range
|
|
---|---|---|
Children
|
||
Sex (male:female)
|
89:79
|
|
At age 5 (years)
|
5.36 (0.29) 4.83–5.92
|
|
At age 8 (years)
a
|
7.92 (0.29) 7.42–8.92
|
|
Parents
|
||
Years of schooling (years)
|
||
Father
b
|
15.30 (2.27) 9–24
|
|
Mother
|
14.83 (1.75) 9–19
|
|
Employment
|
||
Father
c
|
||
Employed
|
161 (98.8)
|
|
Not employed
|
2 (1.2)
|
|
Mother
d
|
||
Employed
|
65 (38.9)
|
|
Not employed
|
102 (61.1)
|
|
Household income
e
|
||
< 2 million JPY
|
4 (2.5)
|
|
2 < 5 million JPY
|
30 (18.5)
|
|
5 < 7 million JPY
|
47 (29.0)
|
|
7 < 10 million JPY
|
46 (28.4)
|
|
10 < 15 million JPY
|
28 (17.3)
|
|
≥ 15 million JPY
|
7 (4.3)
|
SRS Scores of the Study Participants
Change in Autistic Traits Mean Scores from Age 5 to 8 at the Group Level
SRS raw scores
|
All children (
N = 168)
|
t-Test
|
Male (
N = 89)
|
Female (
N = 79)
|
Two-way ANOVA
|
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
Sex
|
Age
|
Sex × Age
|
||
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
t
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
F
|
F
|
F
|
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
|||||
Total
|
33.43 (19.32)
|
32.26 (21.90)
|
1.060
|
35.52 (20.52)
|
34.58 (23.27)
|
31.08 (17.70)
|
29.63 (20.06)
|
2.484
|
1.143
|
0.053
|
[5–117]
|
[4–132]
|
[5–111]
|
[4–132]
|
[5–117]
|
[4–113]
|
|||||
SCI
|
28.71 (15.36)
|
27.94 (17.68)
|
0.829
|
30.01 (16.26)
|
29.56 (18.73)
|
27.24 (14.24)
|
26.11 (16.34)
|
1.706
|
0.717
|
0.132
|
[4–92]
|
[3–102]
|
[4–90]
|
[3–102]
|
[5–92]
|
[4–92]
|
|||||
RRB
|
4.72 (4.65)
|
4.32 (4.91)
|
1.595
|
5.51 (4.91)
|
5.02 (5.26)
|
3.84 (4.19)
|
3.52 (4.37)
|
5.374*
|
2.460
|
0.107
|
[0–25]
|
[0–32]
|
[0–21]
|
[0–32]
|
[0–25]
|
[0–23]
|
Stability of Autistic Traits from Age 5 to 8 at the Individual Level
Whole group
|
All children (
N = 168)
|
Male (
N = 89)
|
Female (
N = 79)
|
---|---|---|---|
SRS total
|
0.759***
|
0.750***
|
0.767***
|
SCI
|
0.738***
|
0.735***
|
0.738***
|
RRB
|
0.761***
|
0.724***
|
0.807***
|
Higher-scoring group
|
All children (
N = 26)
|
Male (
N = 16)
|
Female (
N = 10)
|
---|---|---|---|
SRS total
|
0.503**
|
0.531*
|
0.498
|
SCI
|
0.485**
|
0.577**
|
0.375
|
RRB
|
0.578**
|
0.474*
|
0.788**
|
Lower-scoring group
|
All children (
N = 142)
|
Male (
N = 73)
|
Female (
N = 69)
|
---|---|---|---|
SRS total
|
0.594***
|
0.574***
|
0.617***
|
SCI
|
0.568***
|
0.518***
|
0.639***
|
RRB
|
0.607***
|
0.669***
|
0.427***
|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
Age 5
|
Age 8
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
|
Higher-scoring group
|
All children (
N = 26)
|
Male (
N = 16)
|
Female (
N = 10)
|
|||
SRS total
|
68.27 (18.83)
|
63.12 (31.28)
|
70.13 (17.36)
|
62.50 (32.52)
|
65.30 (21.60)
|
64.10 (30.88)
|
[46–117]
|
[20–132]
|
[51–111]
|
[20–132]
|
[46–117]
|
[23–113]
|
|
SCI
|
55.46 (14.45)
|
52.35 (23.84)
|
56.63 (13.72)
|
51.88 (24.71)
|
53.60 (16.13)
|
53.10 (23.67)
|
[38–92]
|
[19–102]
|
[38–90]
|
[19–102]
|
[40–92]
|
[21–92]
|
|
RRB
|
12.81 (5.56)
|
10.77 (8.27)
|
13.50 (4.94)
|
10.63 (8.88)
|
11.70 (6.55)
|
11.00 (7.65)
|
[4–25]
|
[1–32]
|
[6–21]
|
[1–32]
|
[4–25]
|
[2–23]
|
Lower-scoring group
|
All children (
N = 142)
|
Male (
N = 73)
|
Female (
N = 69)
|
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SRS total
|
27.05 (10.69)
|
26.61 (13.66)
|
27.93 (11.28)
|
28.47 (15.18)
|
26.12 (10.01)
|
24.64 (11.63)
|
[5–48]
|
[4–87]
|
[5–48]
|
[4–87]
|
[5–45]
|
[4–57]
|
|
SCI
|
23.81 (9.29)
|
23.47 (11.80)
|
24.18 (9.59)
|
24.67 (12.90)
|
23.42 (9.00)
|
22.20 (10.46)
|
[4–43]
|
[3–73]
|
[4–42]
|
[3–73]
|
[5–43]
|
[4–53]
|
|
RRB
|
3.24 (2.41)
|
3.13 (2.70)
|
3.75 (2.66)
|
3.79 (2.98)
|
2.70 (2.00)
|
2.43 (2.18)
|
[0–12]
|
[0–14]
|
[0–12]
|
[0–14]
|
[0–9]
|
[0–9]
|
Discussion
Main Findings
Stability of Autistic Traits for Each Subdomain and by Sex
Sex-Specific Patterns in Children with Higher Autistic Traits
Limitations
Implications
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of interest
Ethical Approval
Informed Consent
Appendix
SRS
|
All children
|
Male
|
Female
|
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Participants
|
Non-participants
a
|
Participants
|
Non-participants
b
|
Participants
|
Non-participants
c
|
|||||||
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
t
|
p
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
t
|
p
|
Mean (SD)
|
Mean (SD)
|
t
|
p
|
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
[Range]
|
|||||||
Total
|
33.43 (19.32)
|
35.13 (17.83)
|
−0.85
|
0.39
|
35.52 (20.52)
|
36.47 (19.56)
|
−0.32
|
0.75
|
31.08 (17.70)
|
33.60 (15.58)
|
−0.97
|
0.34
|
[5–117]
|
[7–121]
|
[5–111]
|
[7–121]
|
[5–117]
|
[8–83]
|
|||||||
SCI
|
28.71 (15.36)
|
30.14 (14.21)
|
−0.90
|
0.37
|
30.01 (16.26)
|
31.15 (15.37)
|
−0.49
|
0.63
|
27.24 (14.24)
|
28.99 (12.75)
|
−0.82
|
0.41
|
[4–92]
|
[6–96]
|
[4–90]
|
[6–96]
|
[5–92]
|
[8–69]
|
|||||||
RRB
|
4.72 (4.65)
|
4.99 (4.28)
|
−0.57
|
0.57
|
5.51 (4.91)
|
5.33 (4.77)
|
0.25
|
0.80
|
3.84 (4.19)
|
4.61 (3.64)
|
−13
|
0.21
|
[0–25]
|
[0–25]
|
[0–21]
|
[0–25]
|
[0–25]
|
[0–18]
|