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. 2018 Apr;48(4):1325-1337.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3471-7.

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

D A Goh  1 , D Gan  1 , J Kung  1 , S Baron-Cohen  2 , C Allison  2 , H Chen  3   4 , S M Saw  5   4   6 , Y S Chong  7   8 , V S Rajadurai  3   4 , K H Tan  3   4 , P C L Shek  7   9 , F Yap  3   4   10 , B F P Broekman  7   11   12 , I Magiati  13
Affiliations

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

D A Goh et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Autistic traits; Child; Demographic; Informant; Measurement; Predictors..

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