Parents’ impaired emotion recognition abilities are related to children’s autistic symptoms in autism spectrum disorder

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of ASD and TD children

	ASD children (n=31)		TD children (n=24)		χ^2/t	P-value
	n	%	n	%
Gender
Male	28	90.32	21	87.50	1.29	0.26
Female	3	9.68	3	12.50
Family income (¥CNY)
<3,000	12	24.00	5	14.71	5.57	0.14
3–5,000	16	32.00	9	26.47
5–8,000	11	22.00	13	38.23
>8,000	11	22.00	7	20.59
Family history	8	25.82	1	4.17	4.63	0.03*
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	χ^2/t	P-value
Age (years)	8.57	2.29	7.43	2.19	1.10	0.29
IQ
VIQ	69.70	19.95	97.50	15.78	−5.57	0.00**
PIQ	64.53	17.04	93.16	11.94	−6.90	0.00**
Total	66.56	18.49	95.50	13.69	−6.39	0.00**
ADI-R
Communication	23.12	8.71	NA	NA
Reciprocal social interaction	18.88	6.60	NA	NA
Repetitive behaviors and stereotyped patterns	3.36	2.84	NA	NA
Total score	48.24	16.05	NA	NA

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: ADI-R, Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised; ASD, autism spectrum disorder; CNY, Chinese Yuan; IQ, intelligence quotient; NA, not applicable; PIQ, performance intelligence quotient; TD, typically developing; VIQ, verbal intelligence quotient.

Table 2 Demographic characteristics and ERT scores of ASC’s and TDC’s parents

	Parents of ASC (n=50)		Parents of TDC (n=34)		χ^2/t	P-value
	n	%	n	%
Gender
Male	26	52.00	14	41.18	0.95	0.33
Female	24	48.00	20	58.82
Age of giving birth (years)
<25	11	22.00	7	20.58	2.96	0.40
25–30	11	22.00	13	38.24
30–35	16	32.00	9	26.47
>35	12	24.00	5	14.71
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	χ^2/t	P-value
Age (years)	36.12	5.46	34.12	4.67	1.75	0.09
Education years	12.62	3.80	11.97	2.67	0.92	0.36
IQ
VIQ	104.84	13.74	98.71	12.73	0.33	0.74
PIQ	101.36	17.41	100.00	13.08	0.45	0.66
Total	103.84	14.07	99.44	12.73	0.45	0.66
Correct number of ERT
Happy	22.72	4.07	23.26	3.45	−0.63	0.54
Anger	10.96	4.50	12.35	4.16	−1.43	0.15
Sad	15.82	6.18	18.13	4.35	−2.79	0.01*
Disgust	10.70	5.82	13.23	4.81	−2.10	0.04*
Fear	7.90	4.13	10.59	5.60	−2.39	0.02*
Surprise	19.26	4.43	19.94	4.21	−0.71	0.48
Total	88.10	13.21	98.18	16.08	−3.23	0.00**

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: ASC, autism spectrum disorder children; ERT, emotion recognition task; IQ, intelligence quotient; PIQ, performance intelligence quotient; TDC, typically developing children; VIQ, verbal intelligence quotient.

Figure 1 Negative correlation was found between the total number of correct ERT responses for recognizing all six types of emotions by parents of ASD children and these children’s “repetitive behaviors and stereotyped pattern” scores on the ADI-R (r=−0.32; P=0.03), controlled for parental age, gender, and IQ of both the parents and children.

Abbreviations: ADI-R, Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised; ASD, autism spectrum disorder; ERT, emotion recognition task; IQ, intelligence quotient.

Figure 2 Partial correlation plot showed the negative correlation between the total number of correct ERT responses for recognizing all six types of emotions by parents of ASD children and these children’s “repetitive behaviors and stereotyped pattern” scores on the ADI-R (r=−0.32; P=0.03), controlled for parental age, gender, and IQ of both the parents and children.

Abbreviations: ADI-R, Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised; ASD, autism spectrum disorder; ERT, emotion recognition task; IQ, intelligence quotient.