Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers
Abstract Identifying factors linked to autism traits in the general population may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying divergent neurodevelopment. In this study we assess whether factors increasing the likelihood of childhood autism are related to early autistic trait emergence, o...
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Nature Portfolio
2024-04-01
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Series: | Scientific Reports |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58907-w |
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author | Oliver Gale-Grant Andrew Chew Shona Falconer Lucas G. S. França Sunniva Fenn-Moltu Laila Hadaya Nicholas Harper Judit Ciarrusta Tony Charman Declan Murphy Tomoki Arichi Grainne McAlonan Chiara Nosarti A. David Edwards Dafnis Batalle |
author_facet | Oliver Gale-Grant Andrew Chew Shona Falconer Lucas G. S. França Sunniva Fenn-Moltu Laila Hadaya Nicholas Harper Judit Ciarrusta Tony Charman Declan Murphy Tomoki Arichi Grainne McAlonan Chiara Nosarti A. David Edwards Dafnis Batalle |
author_sort | Oliver Gale-Grant |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract Identifying factors linked to autism traits in the general population may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying divergent neurodevelopment. In this study we assess whether factors increasing the likelihood of childhood autism are related to early autistic trait emergence, or if other exposures are more important. We used data from 536 toddlers from London (UK), collected at birth (gestational age at birth, sex, maternal body mass index, age, parental education, parental language, parental history of neurodevelopmental conditions) and at 18 months (parents cohabiting, measures of socio-economic deprivation, measures of maternal parenting style, and a measure of maternal depression). Autism traits were assessed using the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) at 18 months. A multivariable model explained 20% of Q-CHAT variance, with four individually significant variables (two measures of parenting style and two measures of socio-economic deprivation). In order to address variable collinearity we used principal component analysis, finding that a component which was positively correlated with Q-CHAT was also correlated to measures of parenting style and socio-economic deprivation. Our results show that parenting style and socio-economic deprivation correlate with the emergence of autism traits at age 18 months as measured with the Q-CHAT in a community sample. |
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issn | 2045-2322 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-24T09:54:53Z |
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spelling | doaj.art-f25dc506f84c4d39a1352a28052335da2024-04-14T11:13:05ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-04-0114111210.1038/s41598-024-58907-wClinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlersOliver Gale-Grant0Andrew Chew1Shona Falconer2Lucas G. S. França3Sunniva Fenn-Moltu4Laila Hadaya5Nicholas Harper6Judit Ciarrusta7Tony Charman8Declan Murphy9Tomoki Arichi10Grainne McAlonan11Chiara Nosarti12A. David Edwards13Dafnis Batalle14Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonDepartment of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonCentre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King’s College LondonDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College LondonAbstract Identifying factors linked to autism traits in the general population may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying divergent neurodevelopment. In this study we assess whether factors increasing the likelihood of childhood autism are related to early autistic trait emergence, or if other exposures are more important. We used data from 536 toddlers from London (UK), collected at birth (gestational age at birth, sex, maternal body mass index, age, parental education, parental language, parental history of neurodevelopmental conditions) and at 18 months (parents cohabiting, measures of socio-economic deprivation, measures of maternal parenting style, and a measure of maternal depression). Autism traits were assessed using the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) at 18 months. A multivariable model explained 20% of Q-CHAT variance, with four individually significant variables (two measures of parenting style and two measures of socio-economic deprivation). In order to address variable collinearity we used principal component analysis, finding that a component which was positively correlated with Q-CHAT was also correlated to measures of parenting style and socio-economic deprivation. Our results show that parenting style and socio-economic deprivation correlate with the emergence of autism traits at age 18 months as measured with the Q-CHAT in a community sample.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58907-w |
spellingShingle | Oliver Gale-Grant Andrew Chew Shona Falconer Lucas G. S. França Sunniva Fenn-Moltu Laila Hadaya Nicholas Harper Judit Ciarrusta Tony Charman Declan Murphy Tomoki Arichi Grainne McAlonan Chiara Nosarti A. David Edwards Dafnis Batalle Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers Scientific Reports |
title | Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
title_full | Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
title_fullStr | Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
title_full_unstemmed | Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
title_short | Clinical, socio-demographic, and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
title_sort | clinical socio demographic and parental correlates of early autism traits in a community cohort of toddlers |
url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58907-w |
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