Association between caregiver-child interaction and autistic-like behaviors at around three years of age

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 355; pp. 326 - 332
• Main Authors: Gao, Peng, Zhou, Cheng, Ruan, Zhaohui, Zhang, Zixing, Fang, Xinyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.06.2024
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Autistic Disorder - epidemiology; Autistic-like behavior; Caregivers; Child development; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Parent-child interaction; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Social Behavior; Child development; Autistic-like behavior; Parent-child interaction
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.078

The prevalence of autistic-like behaviors is increasing worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. With a high disease burden and complex developmental causes, there has been much interest in the etiology of the disease, and there is a lack of evidence on the relationship between caregiver-child interaction and autistic-like behaviors. This study investigated the association between caregiver-child interaction and children's autistic-like behaviors during early childhood. The subjects of this study were 171 kindergartens selected from the Longhua Child Cohort Study (LCCS), and a total of 40,237 children around the age of three were included. Sociodemographic characteristics, family income, and frequency of interaction between caregivers and children were all filled in by the child's primary caregiver, and the adapted Chinese Autism Behavior Checklist was used to assess children's autism-like behaviors. Tobit Regression and ancovariance analysis (ANCOVA) were used to measure the relationship between caregiver-child interactions (family and social activities) and autism-like behaviors, with a two-tailed p value of <0.05 being significant. Tobit regression analyses found that in the 0–1 year age group, different frequencies of singing activities by caregivers with children (<3 times per week, 3–6 times per week, 6 times or more per week) were significantly negatively associated with autistic-like behaviors in a dose-response manner (B values of −0.323, −0.381, −0.544, all p < 0.0001); in the 1–3 year age group, different frequencies of reading interactions by caregivers with children (<3 times per week, 3–6 times per week, 6 times or more per week) were also significantly negatively associated with autistic-like behaviors in a dose-response manner (B values of −0.388, −0.632, −0.956, all p < 0.0001), and similar associations were found in singing and chatting interactions. Our findings suggest that higher frequencies of early caregiver-child interactions are associated with lower levers of autistic-like behaviors in children around the age of three years. •More early caregiver-child interactions are linked to fewer autistic-like behaviors in children around age three.•Increasing the frequency of reading to children between the ages of 1-3 years led to the greatest decrease in ABC scores.•Findings underscore the importance of public health interventions to encourage caregivers to frequently interact with the children.