Anthropomorphic tendencies in autism: A conceptual replication and extension of White and Remington (2019) and preliminary development of a novel anthropomorphism measure.
Rachel A Clutterbuck, Punit Shah, Hok Sze Leung and 3 others
PMID 34538099WHAT IT FOUND
Higher autistic traits in the general population predicted greater adult anthropomorphism, but the link to childhood anthropomorphism depended on how traits were measured.
Sex was a stronger predictor than autistic traits. The original questionnaire failed measurement checks, so a new nine-item version is proposed.
Key findings
01When autistic traits were treated as a continuous score, they significantly predicted greater overall and adult anthropomorphism after controlling for age and sex.
02Sex was the strongest predictor of anthropomorphic tendencies across most regression models, even after accounting for autistic traits.
03The original Anthropomorphism Questionnaire failed measurement invariance testing for autistic traits, but the refined nine-item version passed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used a general population sample rather than clinically diagnosed autistic individuals. The AQ-10 measure had low internal consistency. The original questionnaire failed to measure the same construct across groups with different levels of autistic traits. The link between autistic traits and childhood anthropomorphism was inconsistent depending on the statistical method used.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. One author was supported by a doctoral studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that autistic traits cause greater anthropomorphism. The study shows an association that varies depending on how traits are measured, and sex was a stronger predictor than autistic traits in most models.