Recognition of emotional facial expressions and broad autism phenotype in parents of children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder

Baykara

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

2017

To cite this article: Murat Eyuboglu, Burak Baykara & Damla Eyuboglu (2018) Broad autism phenotype: theory of mind and empathy skills in unaffected siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder, Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 28:1, 36-42, ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: Difficulties in social communication is core syptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and it is often present in first-degree relatives in varying degrees. However, these subclinical autistic traits, which are thought to be related to genetic susceptibility factors, may be heterogeneous in family members. This prospective, the aim of this study was to compare unaffected siblings of children with ASD in terms of theory of mind, empathy skills, and broad autism phenotype (BAP). METHODS: Fourty-one children who were diagnosed Autistic Disorder, Asperger Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-not otherwise specified according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition and their unaffected siblings and 43 controls of typically developing children were included. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children -Present and Lifetime Version was conducted all children with the aim of excluding a psychiatric diagnosis. False-belief tasks and Emotion Recognition Scales were used to evaluate theory of mind and empathy skills. The Social Communication Questionnaire was administered by the clinician in order to evaluate subthreshold autistic symptoms. RESULTS: Unaffected siblings of ASD children exhibited worse performance in theory of mind and emotion recognition tasks. Additionally, these children had more autistic symptoms and there was a correlation with autism symptoms and social cognition tasks. DISCUSSION: In compatible with BAP, the results indicated that the siblings of children with ASD showed a neurocognitive profile associated with ASD at a slight level, and they had more subsyndromal autism symptoms compared with healthy children. The findings also indicated that there was a weakness in skills of empathy and theory of mind ability of siblings of ASD. ARTICLE HISTORY

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad autism phenotype: theory of mind and empathy skills in unaffected siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder

Baykara

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

2017

Autism Research and Treatment

“…Similarly, Sucksmith et al (2013) [52] found no significant differences in accuracy and adjusted response time in index parents compared to unaffected adults using the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces task (KDEF) (ES range: 0.08–0.30). Kadak et al (2014) [21] used the Emotion Recognition Test (using photos of facial affect from Ekman and Friesen) and found index parents had impaired recognition of happy, surprised, and neutral faces compared to parents of typically developing children (ES range: 0.05–0.50).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Evidence of Behavioral, Cognitive, and Psychiatric Endophenotypes in Autism: A Systematic Review

Ruparelia

Manji

Abubakar

et al. 2017

Substantial evidence indicates that parents of autistic individuals often display milder forms of autistic traits referred to as the broader autism phenotype (BAP). To determine if discrete endophenotypes of autism can be identified, we reviewed the literature to assess the evidence of behavioral, cognitive, and psychiatric profiles of the BAP. A systematic review was conducted using EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycEXTRA, and Global Health. Sixty papers met our inclusion criteria and results are discussed according to the proportion of studies that yield significant deficits per domain. The behavioral, cognitive, and psychiatric endophenotypes in parents of autistic probands are still not clarified; however, evidence suggests mild social/communication deficits, rigid/aloof personality traits, and pragmatic language difficulties as the most useful sociobehavioral candidate endophenotype traits. The existence of deficits in the cognitive domain does suggest familial vulnerability for autism. Furthermore, increased depressed mood and anxiety can also be useful markers; however, findings should be interpreted with caution because of the small number of studies in such heterogeneously broad domains and several methodological limitations.

International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice

“…Higher scores indicate higher ' autistic ' traits. Th e Turkish version of the AQ was supported by its reliable psychometric properties (Kadak et al 2014).…”

Section: Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between temperament, character and the autistic trait in parents of children with autistic spectrum disorder

Kadak

Demirel

Gökalp

et al. 2015

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