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

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3471-7
• Publication Date: 2018-01-31T00:54:21Z
• Authors: D. A. Goh; D. Gan; J. Kung; S. Baron-Cohen; C. Allison; H. Chen; S. M. Saw; Y. S. Chong; V. S. Rajadurai; K. H. Tan; P. C. L. Shek; F. Yap; B. F. P. Broekman; I. Magiati
• Keywords: Autistic traits; Trait

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.