To probe the specificity of traits that might be conceptualised as the broader phenotype of autism, parents of subjects with autism from simplex and multiplex families as well as parents of subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), early onset schizophrenia (EOS) and mental retardation (MR) were assessed using the Personality Style and Disorder Inventory and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Autism parents' scores were increased on several subscales (e.g. reserved/schizoid, depression) compared to parents of subjects with OCD, EOS and normative data, but not in comparison to MR parents. Results provide some support for the specificity of the broader phenotype of autism. The burden of raising severely disabled children could not be ruled out as a factor influencing parts of this phenotype.

No abstract

This experiment was designed to test the hypotheses that the relationship between personality and attitude change is affected by the type of persuasive communication and rhat the relationship between personality, attitude change, and type of appeal would be different for the two sexes. 280 college srudents were randomly divided into three treaunent conditions. Each group received either a factual, enotional, or conforming appeal. Measures of anxiety (MAS), self-concept (S-C) , authoritarianism ( F ) , and intolerance of ambiguity (1A) were obtained for each student. A multiple regression analysis was conducted for each treaunent and sex group with attitude change scores used as the dependent variable. Significant F ratios for the cumulative regression were found for males receiving the conforming message and for females receiving the conforming and emotional ap?eals. N o personality measure was associated with artirude change following the factual appeal for either sex, or for the emotional appeal for the males. For *e males in the conforming-appeal treatment 1A was positively correlated with attitude change, while MAS and F were negatively correlated. For females in the conforming-appeal treaunent S-C was positively correlated and MAS nega~ively correlated, while MAS was positively correlated in the emotional treatment. The results were interpreted as supporting the basic hypotheses and suggest rhat considerable attention must be given to the appeal used to induce attitude change in smdies investigating personality and persuasibility.