Abstract
Background: In 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a higher prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
in New Jersey, one of the wealthiest states in the United States, than in other surveillance regions.
Objective: To examine the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with ASD prevalence.
Methods: Information on eight-year-olds with ASD from four counties was abstracted from school and medical records. US Census 2000
provided population and median household income data.
Results: 586 children with ASD were identified: autism prevalence was 10.2/1000, higher in boys than girls (16 vs. 4/1000); higher
in white and Asian non-Hispanics than in black non-Hispanics and Hispanics (12.5, 14.0, 9.0, and 8.5/1000, respectively);
and higher (17.2/1000 (95% CI 14.0–21.1)) in tracts with median income >US$90,000 than in tracts with median income ≤US$30,000
(7.1 (95% CI 5.7–8.9)). Number of professional evaluations was higher, and age at diagnosis younger, in higher income tracts
(p < .001), but both measures spanned a wide overlapping range in all SES levels. In multivariable models race/ethnicity did
not predict ASD, but the prevalence ratio was 2.2 (95% CI 1.5–3.1) when comparing highest with lowest income tracts.
Conclusions: In the US state of New Jersey, ASD prevalence is higher in wealthier census tracts, perhaps due to differential access to
pediatric and developmental services.
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ) among caregivers
of children with autism. The CGSQ was originally developed to assess burden experienced by parents of children and adolescents
with serious emotional and behavioral disorders. Study data was collected from 304 primary caregivers ofchildren with autism
using a cross-sectional survey design. We tested the one-, two-, and three-factor CGSQ model. Though the three-factor CGSQ
model fit better than the one- and two-factor model, it was still short of an acceptable fit. Minor modifications were made
to the three-factor model by correlating error terms. The modified three-factor CGSQ model with correlated error indicated
reasonable fit with the data. The 21-item CGSQ had good convergent validity, as indicated by the correlation of its three
subscales with constructs including mental health-related quality of life, maladaptive coping, social support, family functioning,
and care recipient level of functional impairment and extent of behavioral problems, respectively. The internal consistency
reliability of the instrument was also good, and there were no floor and ceiling effects. The CGSQ was found to be a reliable
and valid instrument to assess burden among caregivers of children with autism.
Abstract
Perceiving someone else’s gaze shift toward an object can influence how this object will be manipulated by the observer, suggesting
a modulatory effect of a gaze-based social context on action control. High-functioning autism (HFA) is characterized by impairments
of social interaction, which may be associated with an inability to automatically integrate socially relevant nonverbal cues
when generating actions. To explore these hypotheses, we made use of a stimulus-response compatibility paradigm in which a
comparison group and patients with HFA were asked to generate spatially congruent or incongruent motor responses to changes
in a face, a face-like and an object stimulus. Results demonstrate that while in the comparison group being looked at by a
virtual other leads to a reduction of reaction time costs associated with generating a spatially incongruent response, this
effect is not present in the HFA group. We suggest that this modulatory effect of social gaze on action control might play
an important role in direct social interactions by helping to coordinate one’s actions with those of someone else. Future
research should focus on these implicit mechanisms of interpersonal alignment (‘online’ social cognition), which might be
at the very heart of the difficulties individuals with autism experience in everyday social encounters.
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Abstract
Prospective questionnaire data from a longitudinal population sample on children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), developmental
delay, specific language impairment, or typical development (TD), were collected at ages eight, 12 and 24 months, via the
Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale Developmental Profile (CSBS) – Infant Toddler Checklist, and the Actions and Gesture
section of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI):Words and Gestures. The four groups were compared
at four years of age to identify whether any early behaviours differentiated the groups. While children with ASD differed
from TD children on most social communicative measures by 12 months of age, the only social communication characteristic which
could differentiate the children with ASD from the other groups were gesture scores on the CDI at 12 months and the CSBS at
24 months. Significant markers of ASD were identifiable in this community sample at an early age, although discrimination
between clinical groups was rarely evident.
Abstract
This study examined the prevalence and chronicity of sleep problems in children who manifest problems believed to be typical
of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Using data from a longitudinal total population study, symptoms of ASD, insomnia and potential
explanatory factors were assessed at ages 7–9 and 11–13. Children were included in a group defined as having Autism Spectrum
Problems (ASP) if they scored above a strict threshold on the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ). Twenty-eight
(0.8%) of 3700 children fulfilled the selected criteria for ASP at both waves, and the prevalence of chronic insomnia was
more than ten times higher in these children compared to the controls. Children with ASP developed more sleep problems over
time, with an incidence rate at wave 2 of 37.5% compared to 8.6% in the controls. The sleep problems were more persistent
over time, with a remission rate of 8.3% compared to 52.4% in the controls. ASP was a strong predictor of sleep problems at
wave 2 (OR = 12.44), and while emotional and behavioural problems explained a large proportion of this association, the effect
of ASP on insomnia remained significant in the fully adjusted model (OR = 3.25). These findings call for increased awareness
of sleep problems in children with ASP.
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sagepub
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