Subclinical neuropsychiatric trait variation in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: a cohort study.
Lindsay J Mullin, Kai Xia, Jeffrey Wang and 17 others
Mothers of multiple autistic children scored higher on anxiety and depression, and fathers scored higher on autistic traits, than parents of non-autistic children.
These were subclinical, not diagnostic. Parents of one autistic child did not differ. The traits jointly explained 7.9% of autism recurrence.
Key findings
1Mothers in the multiplex group had higher anxiety (mean 5.7 vs 3.6) and depression (mean 7.0 vs 4.2) scores than mothers in the comparison group, and fathers in the multiplex group had higher autistic trait scores (mean 37 vs 23). No differences were found for ADHD or cognitive ability, and the simplex group did not differ from either other group on any measure.
2In the comparison group, autistic, depressive, ADHD, and cognitive traits were all significantly correlated between parents (r = 0.24 to 0.51). In the simplex group, only autistic traits were correlated between parents (r = 0.30). In the multiplex group, no between-parent correlations reached significance, and no autistic-neuropsychiatric trait correlations were found within either parent.
3Parental traits jointly accounted for 7.9% of the variance in autism recurrence in high-likelihood families. The strongest individual predictors were maternal depressive scores (3.3%) and paternal autistic trait scores (2.0%).
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How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The multiplex group is small (58 families), and the authors note this may limit detection of subtle correlations between and within parents. The sample is relatively homogeneous: 79% White, 51% with a graduate degree, and 86% of parents living together. Families were excluded if a parent had intellectual disability, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or psychosis, so the sample may carry less trait burden than the broader population of parents of autistic children. The ASEBA may not be the most targeted measure for ADHD traits, and the authors suggest future work with more specific scales. No genomic data were included, so genetic versus environmental contributions to the trait elevations cannot be separated. Parenting stress was tested as a confound by adjusting for the child's adaptive behavior, and results were similar, but it cannot be fully excluded as a contributor to maternal anxiety and depression.
Declared interests
Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Foundation of Hope for Research and Treatment of Mental Illness. No industry funding or conflicts of interest declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the elevated anxiety, depression, and autistic trait scores as applying to all parents of autistic children. The differences were specific to families with more than one autistic child (n = 58). Parents of a single autistic child (n = 131) did not differ from parents of non-autistic children on any measure, and the 7.9% of recurrence variance explained by parental traits is small.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →