Sex differences in repetitive stereotyped behaviors in autism: implications for genetic liability
- PMID: 22095612
- DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.31238
Sex differences in repetitive stereotyped behaviors in autism: implications for genetic liability
Abstract
The implications of the well known sex differences in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not well understood. The aim of this paper was to investigate whether these differences might be associated with differences in genetic liability. Individuals with ASD (970 families, 2,028 individuals) were recruited as part of the Autism Genome Project (AGP). The families were differentiated into families containing a female (either female-female or male-female) and those with only males. If the sex with the lower prevalence is associated with a greater genetic liability necessary to cross sex-specific thresholds, the males from female containing families should be more severely affected than males from male only families. Affected subjects from the different types of families with ASD were sampled and compared on the social reciprocity and repetitive behavior scores from the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). In general, females had lower repetitive behavior scores than males. More importantly, males from female containing families had higher repetitive behavior scores than males from male-male families. No such differences were apparent on the social reciprocity scores. These results support the hypothesis of a multiple threshold model of genetic liability of ASD with females having a higher liability for affectation status, at least on the repetitive behavior dimension of the disorder. These data also support the dissociation of the different phenotypic dimensions of ASD in terms of its genetic architecture. The implications of these results for linkage and association studies are discussed.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Similar articles
-
Obsessive-compulsive behaviors in parents of multiplex autism families.Psychiatry Res. 2003 Jan 25;117(1):11-6. doi: 10.1016/s0165-1781(02)00304-9. Psychiatry Res. 2003. PMID: 12581816
-
Gender differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests in youth with autism.Autism Res. 2019 Feb;12(2):274-283. doi: 10.1002/aur.2049. Epub 2018 Dec 17. Autism Res. 2019. PMID: 30561911
-
Application of the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised--Italian version--in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder.Res Dev Disabil. 2016 Jan;48:43-52. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.015. Epub 2015 Nov 2. Res Dev Disabil. 2016. PMID: 26540296
-
The genetics of autism.Pediatrics. 2004 May;113(5):e472-86. doi: 10.1542/peds.113.5.e472. Pediatrics. 2004. PMID: 15121991 Review.
-
[ADI-R and ADOS and the differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders: Interests, limits and openings].Encephale. 2019 Nov;45(5):441-448. doi: 10.1016/j.encep.2019.07.002. Epub 2019 Sep 5. Encephale. 2019. PMID: 31495549 Review. French.
Cited by
-
Sex differences during development in cortical temporal processing and event related potentials in wild-type and fragile X syndrome model mice.J Neurodev Disord. 2024 May 8;16(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s11689-024-09539-8. J Neurodev Disord. 2024. PMID: 38720271 Free PMC article.
-
Male-Dominant Effects of Chd8 Haploinsufficiency on Synaptic Phenotypes during Development in Mouse Prefrontal Cortex.ACS Chem Neurosci. 2024 Apr 17;15(8):1635-1642. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00690. Epub 2024 Apr 1. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2024. PMID: 38557009 Free PMC article.
-
Characterizing individual differences in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a descriptive study.Front Psychol. 2024 Feb 27;15:1323787. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1323787. eCollection 2024. Front Psychol. 2024. PMID: 38476386 Free PMC article.
-
Barriers to an Autistic Identity: How RRBs may Contribute to the Underdiagnosis of Females.Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2023 Nov;109:102275. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2023.102275. Epub 2023 Nov 6. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2023. PMID: 38187508
-
A bibliometric analysis of global research status and trends in neuromodulation techniques in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder.BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 20;23(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04666-3. BMC Psychiatry. 2023. PMID: 36941549 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical