Temperament and Sensory Features of Children with Autism

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 42; no. 11; pp. 2271 - 2284
• Main Authors: Brock, M. E., Freuler, A., Baranek, G. T., Watson, L. R., Poe, M. D., Sabatino, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.11.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Autistic spectrum disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Children; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; Developmental Delays; Developmental Disabilities - psychology; Developmental disorders; Diagnosis; Distraction; Etiology; Female; Humans; Indexing in process; Individual Differences; Infantile autism; Interpersonal Relationship; Male; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Perceptual Impairments; Persistence; Personality Traits; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Questionnaires; Resistance (Psychology); Sensation; Sensory Experience; Sensory processes; Sensory stimulation; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperament; Temperament in children; Withdrawal (Psychology); Young Children; United States; Autism; Developmental delay; Temperament; Sensory processing and reactivity; Human; Information processing; Perception; Cognition; Personality; Developmental disorder; Child
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-012-1472-5

This study sought to characterize temperament traits in a sample of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ages 3–7 years old, and to determine the potential association between temperament and sensory features in ASD. Individual differences in sensory processing may form the basis for aspects of temperament and personality, and aberrations in sensory processing may inform why some temperamental traits are characteristic of specific clinical populations. Nine dimensions of temperament from the Behavioral Style Questionnaire (McDevitt and Carey in Manual for the behavioral style questionnaire, Behavioral-Developmental Initiatives, Scottsdale, AZ, 1996 ) were compared among groups of children with ASD ( n  = 54), developmentally delayed (DD; n  = 33), and the original normative sample of typically developing children (McDevitt and Carey in J Child Psychol Psychiatr 19(3):245–253, 1978 ; n  = 350) using an ANOVA to determine the extent to which groups differed in their temperament profiles. The hypothesized overlap between three sensory constructs (hyperresponsiveness, hyporesponsivness, and seeking) and the nine dimensions of temperament was analyzed in children with ASD using regression analyses. The ASD group displayed temperament scores distinct from norms for typically developing children on most dimensions of temperament (activity, rhythmicity, adaptability, approach, distractibility, intensity, persistence, and threshold) but differed from the DD group on only two dimensions (approach and distractibility). Analyses of associations between sensory constructs and temperament dimensions found that sensory hyporesponsiveness was associated with slowness to adapt , low reactivity, and low distractibility; a combination of increased sensory features (across all three patterns) was associated with increased withdrawal and more negative mood. Although most dimensions of temperament distinguished children with ASD as a group, not all dimensions appear equally associated with sensory response patterns. Shared mechanisms underlying sensory responsiveness, temperament, and social withdrawal may be fruitful to explore in future studies.