Caregiver broader autism phenotype does not moderate the effect of early caregiver-mediated support on infant language outcomes

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102093

. 2025 Jun 19:80:102093.

doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102093. Online ahead of print.

Caregiver broader autism phenotype does not moderate the effect of early caregiver-mediated support on infant language outcomes

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: e.oconnor@latrobe.edu.au.
² Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.treyvaud@latrobe.edu.au.
³ Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: c.green@latrobe.edu.au.
⁴ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: jonathan.green@manchester.ac.uk.
⁵ Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: t.iacono@latrobe.edu.au.
⁶ School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. Electronic address: murray.maybery@uwa.edu.au.
⁷ Health Economics and Social Policy, University of South Australia, SA, Australia. Electronic address: leonie.segal@unisa.edu.au.
⁸ Children's Neurosciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Kings College London, London, UK. Electronic address: vicky.slonims@gstt.nhs.uk.
⁹ CliniKids, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Subiaco, WA, Australia; School of Health Sciences & Social Work, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: k.varcin@griffith.edu.au.
¹⁰ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: m.w.wan@manchester.ac.uk.
¹¹ CliniKids, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Subiaco, WA, Australia; University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. Electronic address: andrew.whitehouse@thekids.org.au.
¹² Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.hudry@latrobe.edu.au.

PMID: 40540767
DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102093

Free article

Caregiver broader autism phenotype does not moderate the effect of early caregiver-mediated support on infant language outcomes

Erin O'Connor et al. Infant Behav Dev. 2025.

Free article

. 2025 Jun 19:80:102093.

doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102093. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: e.oconnor@latrobe.edu.au.
² Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.treyvaud@latrobe.edu.au.
³ Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: c.green@latrobe.edu.au.
⁴ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: jonathan.green@manchester.ac.uk.
⁵ Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: t.iacono@latrobe.edu.au.
⁶ School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. Electronic address: murray.maybery@uwa.edu.au.
⁷ Health Economics and Social Policy, University of South Australia, SA, Australia. Electronic address: leonie.segal@unisa.edu.au.
⁸ Children's Neurosciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Kings College London, London, UK. Electronic address: vicky.slonims@gstt.nhs.uk.
⁹ CliniKids, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Subiaco, WA, Australia; School of Health Sciences & Social Work, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: k.varcin@griffith.edu.au.
¹⁰ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: m.w.wan@manchester.ac.uk.
¹¹ CliniKids, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Subiaco, WA, Australia; University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. Electronic address: andrew.whitehouse@thekids.org.au.
¹² Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: k.hudry@latrobe.edu.au.

PMID: 40540767
DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2025.102093

Abstract

Caregiver-mediated supports in general have shown mixed evidence for enhancing language outcomes in infants at higher likelihood of autism. While caregivers play a substantial role in caregiver-mediated supports, little is known about whether caregivers' own subclinical autistic features - known as broader autism phenotype (BAP) - may moderate infant language outcomes. In secondary analysis of trial data, we examined whether caregiver BAP moderated the effectiveness of the iBASIS caregiver-mediated support program (received when infants were mean aged 12-18 months) for infant language outcomes (measured on parent-reported and direct assessment of receptive and expressive language). While lower caregiver BAP was linked to increased parent-reported infant vocabulary growth in general terms, it did not actually moderate the effect of the caregiver-mediated support program on those infant language outcomes. In relative terms therefore, infants of caregivers with both higher and lower BAP benefited equally from this support on parent-report compared to the comparison group. Caregiver BAP is associated with slower vocabulary growth in infants, but caregivers with autistic features can be recommended for this caregiver-mediated video-feedback based program, as their infants benefitted from such support.

Keywords: Broader autism phenotype; Caregiver-mediated support; Higher likelihood of autism; Language development.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Co-Author (Ming Wai Wan) is a guest-editor for the journal to which this manuscript is submitted. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Caregiver broader autism phenotype does not moderate the effect of early caregiver-mediated support on infant language outcomes

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Caregiver broader autism phenotype does not moderate the effect of early caregiver-mediated support on infant language outcomes

Authors

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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Abstract

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