Child, Maternal and Demographic Factors Influencing Caregiver-Reported Autistic Trait Symptomatology in Toddlers

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 1325 - 1337
• Main Authors: Goh, D. A., Gan, D., Kung, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Chen, H., Saw, S. M., Chong, Y. S., Rajadurai, V. S., Tan, K. H., Shek, P. C. L., Yap, F., Broekman, B. F. P., Magiati, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Age; Autism; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Birth Order; Caregivers; Check Lists; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Child Language; Childbirth & labor; Children; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive functioning; Cohort analysis; Correlation; Demography; Depression (Psychology); Educational Attainment; Ethnicity; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Interpersonal Communication; Language; Language Acquisition; Language disorders; Maternal depression; Membership; Mental depression; Mother Attitudes; Mothers; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Parent Child Relationship; Pediatrics; Predictor Variables; Psychology; Public Health; Respondents; Social aspects; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Toddlers; Singapore; Measurement; Demographic; Informant; Child; Autistic traits; Predictors
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3471-7

Current research on children’s autistic traits in the general population relies predominantly on caregiver-report, yet the extent to which individual, caregiver or demographic characteristics are associated with informants’ ratings has not been sufficiently explored. In this study, caregivers of 396 Singaporean two-year-olds from a birth cohort study completed the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. Children’s gender, cognitive functioning and birth order, maternal age, and ethnic group membership were not significant predictors of caregiver-reported autistic traits. Poorer child language development and higher maternal depressive symptoms significantly predicted more social-communicative autistic traits, while lower maternal education predicted more behavioural autistic traits. Children’s language and informants’ educational level and depressive symptomatology may need to be considered in caregiver-reports of autistic traits.