Identification of broad autism phenotype in pakistani parents of children with autism spectrum disorder
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Date
2015
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UMT, Lahore
Abstract
The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) is self-report questionnaire which is developed to assess the presence of autistic symptomology in general populace with average intelligence. Genetic origin for the deficits in ASD has been established and relatives of autistic individual tend to have milder forms of traits that are clinically related with ASD, such as communication skills deficits, behavioral routines, and distaste for change and this is termed as ‘broader autism phenotype’. The present study aimed to measure BAP traits in Pakistani parents of autistic children using AQ-Urdu version and to identify the difference between the parents of autistic and neurotypical developing children on the total AQ and its five subdomain scores. The AQ total and five subdomains scores of the 54 parents (27 fathers, 27 mothers) of children with autistic disorder were compared with the 54 parents (27 fathers, 27 mothers) of neurotypical developing children. Parents of ASD probands obtained significant higher score on total AQ, socialization subdomain and communicative capability subdomain than the TD parents, and demonstrated larger proportions of broad, medium and narrow autistic phenotype. Considering the findings it is comprehended that cross-culturally AQ Urdu is a reliable measure and it fully supports the conceptual, semantic and content validity of AQ English. The socialization and communication subdomains of AQ significantly differentiated ASD parents from TD and thus they seem more sensitive in identifying BAP symptomology.