An Exploratory Study of a Dimensional Assessment of the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism

Brosnan, Mark

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04474-8

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…These questions have been demonstrated to distinguish autistic and non-autistic individuals and correlate with established measures of autistic-like traits. 33 These questions functioned to confirm that individuals who self-reported an ASD diagnosis did endorse autism-related difficulties to levels seen in previous published samples of autistic individuals. 9 33 Respondents were then asked whether they had used alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or CBD products within the past 12 months.…”

Section: Procedures and Measuresmentioning

confidence: 53%

Cannabis and cannabidiol use among autistic and non-autistic adults in the UK: a propensity score-matched analysis

et al. 2021

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ObjectivesTo assess whether autistic and non-autistic adults differ in their cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) use, their perceptions of cannabinoid products and their cannabinoid-related support-seeking behaviours.DesignCross-sectional survey.ParticipantsRespondents to an online survey, who self-reported an autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis (autistic participants) or no issues relating to autism (controls). Exclusion criteria were: related/subclinical issues relating to autism, non-UK residence, under 16 years old. Propensity score matching was used to match autistic participants and controls on age, gender and ethnicity. The full-sample analysis included 269 participants and the propensity-matched sample analysis included 166 participants. Propensity-matched analysis was used for primary analysis and was considered robust if supported by triangulation with full-sample analysis.ResultsAutistic participants were more likely to have used CBD in the past 12 months compared with controls (OR=3.52, 95% CI 1.57 to 7.87, p=0.002). They used CBD on more days in the past 12 months (M=34, SD=93) compared with controls (M=17, SD=69, p=0.002). Autistic participants reported trusting the news and doctors less as sources of cannabinoid-related information than controls (p=0.024 and p=0.003, respectively). Autistic participants endorsed the following barriers to cannabinoid-related support seeking more than controls: ‘worrying they won’t understand me’ (OR=3.25, 95% CI 1.67 to 6.33, p<0.001), ‘going somewhere unfamiliar’ (OR=5.29, 95% CI 2.62 to 10.67, p<0.001) and ‘being in a crowded or chaotic place’ (OR=9.79, 95% CI 4.18 to 22.89, p<0.001).ConclusionResults indicate a higher prevalence and frequency of CBD use, but not cannabis use, among autistic individuals compared with controls. Findings also suggest appropriate methods to disseminate cannabinoid-related support to autistic individuals, and indicate differences in the potential barriers autistic and non-autistic individuals may face when seeking cannabinoid-related support.

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Section: Procedures and Measuresmentioning

confidence: 53%

Cannabis and cannabidiol use among autistic and non-autistic adults in the UK: a propensity score-matched analysis

et al. 2021

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“…Poljac et al, 2012). In addition, there are autistic people who have not yet undergone diagnostic clarification, but who may report high autistic traits according to their everyday experiences (Brosnan, 2020). Therefore, findings based on the measurement of autistic traits may also be relevant for clinical autism research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speeded reasoning moderates the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition

Bertrams

Schlegel

2020

Autism

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People with diagnosed autism or being high in autistic traits have been found to have difficulties with recognizing emotions from nonverbal expressions. In this study, we investigated whether speeded reasoning (reasoning performance under time pressure) moderates the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition performance. We expected the negative correlation between autistic traits and emotion recognition to be less strong when speeded reasoning was high. The underlying assumption is that people high in autistic traits can compensate for their low intuition in recognizing emotions through quick analytical information processing. A paid online sample ( N = 217) completed the 10-item version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient, two emotion recognition tests using videos with sound (Geneva Emotion Recognition Test) and pictures (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test), and Baddeley’s Grammatical Reasoning Test to measure speeded reasoning. As expected, the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition performance was less pronounced for individuals with high compared to low speeded reasoning ability. These results suggest that a high ability in making quick mental inferences may (partly) compensate for difficulties with intuitive emotion recognition related to autistic traits. Lay abstract Autistic people typically have difficulty recognizing other people’s emotions and to process nonverbal cues in an automatic, intuitive fashion. This usually also applies to people who—regardless of an official diagnosis of autism—achieve high values in autism questionnaires. However, some autistic people do not seem to have any problems with emotion recognition. One explanation may be that these individuals are able to compensate for their lack of intuitive or automatic processing through a quick conscious and deliberate analysis of the emotional cues in faces, voices, and body movements. On these grounds, we assumed that the higher autistic people’s ability to reason quickly (i.e. to make quick logical inferences), the fewer problems they should have with determining other people’s emotions. In our study, we asked workers on the crowdsourcing marketplace MTurk to complete a questionnaire about their autistic traits, to perform emotion recognition tests, and to complete a test of the ability to reason under time constraints. In our sample of 217 people, we found the expected pattern. Overall, those who had higher values in the autism questionnaire scored lower in the emotion recognition tests. However, when reasoning ability was taken into account, a more nuanced picture emerged: participants with high values both on the autism questionnaire and on the reasoning test recognized emotions as well as individuals with low autistic traits. Our results suggest that fast analytic information processing may help autistic people to compensate problems in recognizing others’ emotions.

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“…Ten studies collected data on the diagnostic status of participants (e.g., formally diagnosed with autism, informally diagnosed with autism or self-identified as autistic) and in nine of those studies, the smallest proportion of participants were those that self-identified as autistic (Angulo-Jiménez & DeThorne, 2019;Au-Yeung et al, 2019;Brosnan, 2020;Cooper et al, 2017;Egan et al, 2019;Kapp et al, 2013;Lewis, 2017;Lewis et al, 2021;Pohl et al, 2020). In four of the studies, results from adults who self-identified as autistic were very similar to the results of adults with a formal diagnosis of autism (Au-Yeung et al, 2019;Brosnan, 2020;Kapp et al, 2013;Pohl et al, 2020).…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The final thirteen studies comprised five qualitative (Angulo-Jiménez & DeThorne, 2019;Lewis et al, 2021;Lewis, 2016b;Parsloe, 2015;Penwell-Barnett & Maticka-Tyndale, 2015), four quantitative (Brosnan, 2020;Cooper et al, 2017;Egan et al, 2019;Pohl et al, 2020), three mixed methods (Au-Yeung et al, 2019;Kapp et al, 2013;Lewis, 2017), and one theoretical framework (Wylie et al, 2016). Most of the studies were conducted in the USA (n = 7) and the UK (n = 6).…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All studies collected data online and the majority (n = 9) utilised a survey as a method of data collection (Au-Yeung et al, 2019;Brosnan, 2020;Cooper et al, 2017;Egan et al, 2019;Kapp et al, 2013;Lewis et al, 2021;Lewis, 2016bLewis, , 2017Pohl et al, 2020). Two studies (Angulo-Jiménez & DeThorne, 2019;Parsloe, 2015) analysed publicly accessible online data (videos and forum posts) with the latter study also conducting interviews.…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding the Self-identification of Autism in Adults: a Scoping Review

Overton

Marsà-Sambola

Martin

et al. 2023

Rev J Autism Dev Disord

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Adults are increasingly self-identifying as autistic, and reporting problems being referred for an autism diagnostic assessment. This scoping review aims to ascertain: (1) what research has been conducted on the self-identification process of autism in adults, who do and do not have a formal diagnosis of autism, and (2) which aspects of the self-identification process could be used to improve the referral and the diagnostic process of an adult autism assessment. The main themes identified were: the diagnostic process from a client´s perspective; the process of self-identifying as autistic from a lifespan perspective; an autistic identity; sexual identity and experiences, and the perception of autism as a difference or a disability. These themes could positively enhance the referral and diagnostic process.

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An Exploratory Study of a Dimensional Assessment of the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Cannabis and cannabidiol use among autistic and non-autistic adults in the UK: a propensity score-matched analysis

Cannabis and cannabidiol use among autistic and non-autistic adults in the UK: a propensity score-matched analysis

Speeded reasoning moderates the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition

Understanding the Self-identification of Autism in Adults: a Scoping Review

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