The Children’s Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient: Sex Differences in Typical Development and in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Auyeung, Bonnie; Wheelwright, Sally; Allison, Carrie; Atkinson, M; Samarawickrema, Nelum; Baron‐Cohen, Simon

doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0772-x

Cited by 273 publications

(323 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Items intending to measure each of the 5 domains of interest (social, communication, imagination, attention to detail, and attention switching) show high alpha coefficients. These findings are consistent with the findings on the English AQ adolescent version ) on the English AQ Child version (Auyeung et al 2007) and on the English EQ-SQ child version (Auyeung et al 2009). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In the English SQ child study, similar results were found, except that they did find gender differences on the SQ in general. Boys scored significantly higher than girls, consistent with studies demonstrating a male advantage for visuo-spatial ability and a preference for 'systems' (Auyeung et al 2009). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Gender differences were smaller in the autism group than in the control group. Also, in the study of the English EQ children's version gender differences were found on the EQ (females score higher than males) and children with autism score lower on the EQ than typical developing children do, suggesting that the EQ child is capable of detecting the poor empathizing skills in children typically associated with autism (Auyeung et al 2009). We do have to state that the gender differences in our study may be underrepresented.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Identifying Autism through Empathizing and Systemizing Abilities

Zee

Derksen

2017

Social Sciences

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Baron-Cohen's Empathizing-Systemizing theory plays a central role in this study due to its success in interpreting the core impairments and strengths in autism. The theory states that low empathizing skills are responsible for the social difficulties in autism, and that high levels of systemizing are accountable for the restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior in autism. We therefore hypothesized that there is a significant discrepancy between a child's empathizing and systemizing abilities when autism is present. We developed Dutch versions of the questionnaires that are associated with the theory: the Autism Quotient questionnaire, the Empathizing Quotient questionnaire and the Systemizing Quotient questionnaire. As hypothesized, the scores of children with autism on the Empathizing Quotient questionnaire and on the Systemizing Quotient questionnaire (EQ-SQ Child_NL) show a significant difference. Furthermore, the EQ-SQ Child_NL predicts the score of children in general on the Dutch version of the Autism Quotient questionnaire (AQ Child_NL).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Identifying Autism through Empathizing and Systemizing Abilities

Zee

Derksen

2017

Social Sciences

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“…The result repeated itself in other studies conducted with individuals from varying age groups (children, young people, elderly) and it is again seen that females rank higher on empathy scores (Auyeung, Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Samarawickrema & Atkinson, 2009;Wheelwright et al 2006). Baron-Cohen et al have developed a empathy-systematize measurement (Child Empathy-Systemizing Quotient EQ-SQ) (Baron-Cohen, Knickmeyer & Belmonte, 2005) with which they can point out the differences in systematizing and empathy abilities between individuals on the autism spectrum and individuals with typical development.…”

Section: Empathizing-systemizing Theorymentioning

confidence: 59%

Empathising and systematising in children with and without autism spectrum disorder

2017

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It is known that children with autism are insufficient in building empathy. A part of the difficulties in social interaction may originate from the lack of empathy. This research consists of two studies. First study is adaptation of the "Child Empathy Systemizing Quotient" (EQ-SQ) to Turkish culture which is prepared considering the behaviour characteristics of children in the Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) group, and realizing its validity and reliability. This research is conducted with 760 children with typical development processes, aged 9 -16. The findings show that the Turkish EQ-SQ is a valid and reliable tool. The second study is conducted with 112 children, 32 of them having ASC and 80 not. Through this quotient, the empathy and systematizing abilities of children with ASC are compared with their peers who demonstrate typical development processes. The EQ-SQ levels of the participants are evaluated with their mothers and their demographical values are taken from the mothers. In line with the findings in the literature, the empathy skills of children diagnosed with ASC are significantly lower than children with typical development processes. Among the children with typical development processes, females' empathy skills are shown to be significantly higher than males.

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“…However, higher empathizing scores were associated with earlier puberty in zero-order correlations. Although this comports with the hypothesis that autistic-like traits are associated with a slow LH strategy (Del Giudice et al 2010, the association would not survive correction for multiple statistical testing, performance on the eyes test was unrelated to pubertal timing, and systemizing was related to puberty in the opposite direction: less autistic-like performance (Auyeung et al 2009b) was associated with earlier puberty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sexual Selection and Life History: Earlier Recalled Puberty Predicts Men’s Phenotypic Masculinization

Doll

Cárdenas

Burriss

et al. 2015

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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In some laboratory rodents, males' brains and behavior become less sensitive to the organizing effects of androgens across the time window surrounding puberty. Later puberty in human males has also been associated with less male-typical psychology and behavior, such as lower performance on mental rotation tasks and lower risk of substance abuse and delinquency. Here, we propose that life history (LH) theory provides a useful theoretical framework for understanding such relationships between pubertal timing and phenotypic masculinization. Because a faster male LH strategy emphasizes mating over parenting, earlier puberty may lead more generally to greater masculinization of traits that increase in sexual dimorphism at puberty and function in mating competition. In other words, we suggest that decreasing sensitivity to androgens represents a proximate mechanism that facilitates the development of mating-related adaptations in men with fast LH strategies. We tested this hypothesis in 153 men. Consistent with our hypothesis, earlier recalled pubertal timing predicted greater adult male body mass index, facial dominance, biceps circumference, and, to a lesser degree, systemizing and mental rotation ability. Some sexually dimorphic traits that were unrelated to pubertal timing in our data may have been less relevant to our male ancestors' mating success and hence to a fast LH strategy.

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The Children’s Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient: Sex Differences in Typical Development and in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Cited by 273 publications

References 70 publications

Identifying Autism through Empathizing and Systemizing Abilities

Identifying Autism through Empathizing and Systemizing Abilities

Empathising and systematising in children with and without autism spectrum disorder

Sexual Selection and Life History: Earlier Recalled Puberty Predicts Men’s Phenotypic Masculinization

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