Abstract
Temperament atypicalities have been documented in infancy and early development in children who develop autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current study investigates whether there are differences in developmental trajectories of temperament between infants and toddlers with and without ASD. Parents of infant siblings of children with autism completed the Carey Temperament Scales about their child at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age. Temperament trajectories of children with ASD reflected increases over time in activity level, and decreasing adaptability and approach behaviors relative to high-risk typically developing (TD) children. This study is the first to compare temperament trajectories between high-risk TD infants and infants subsequently diagnosed with ASD in the developmental window when overt symptoms of ASD first emerge.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adamek, L., Nichols, S., Tetenbaum, J. B., Ponzio, C., & Carr, E. G. (2011). Individual temperament and problem behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 26, 173–184.
Aman, M. G. (2004 September). Management of hyperactivity and other acting-out problems in patients with autism spectrum disorder. In Seminars in Pediatric Neurology (Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 225–228). WB Saunders.
American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition, text revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Bailey, D. B, Jr, Hatton, D., Mesibov, G., Ament, N., & Skinner, M. (2000). Early development, temperament, and functional impairment in autism and fragile X syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(1), 49–59.
Bolton, P., Golding, J., Emond, A., & Steer, C. (2012). Autism spectrum disorder and autistic traits in the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children: Precursors and early signs. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(3), 249–260.
Bostrom, P., Broberg, N., & Hwang, C. P. (2010). Different, difficult or distinct? Mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of temperament in children with and without intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(9), 806–819.
Brock, M. E., Freuler, G. T., Baranek, G. T., Watson, L. R., Poe, M. D., & Sabatino, A. (2012). Temperament and sensory features of children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 2271–2284.
Bryson, S. E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Brian, J., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., Rombough, V., et al. (2007). A prospective case series of high-risk infants who developed autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(1), 12–24.
Carey, W. B., & McDevitt, S. C. (1995). The Carey temperament scales. Scottsdale, AZ: Behavioral-Developmental Initiatives.
Casalin, S., Luyten, P., Vliegen, N., & Meurs, P. (2012). The structure and stability of temperament from infancy to toddlerhood: A one-year prospective study. Infant Behavior and Development, 35, 94–108.
Charman, T., Taylor, E., Drew, A., Cockerill, H., Brown, J.-A., & Baird, G. (2005). Outcome at 7 years of children diagnosed with autism at age 2: Predictive validity of assessments conducted at 2 and 3 years of age and pattern of symptom change over time. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(5), 500–513.
Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R., Macari, S., & Volkmar, F. (2009). A prospective study of toddlers with ASD: Short-term diagnostic and cognitive outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(10), 1235–1245.
Chawarska, K., Macari, S., Shic, F. (2012). Decreased spontaneous attention to social scenes in 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Biological Psychiatry [Epub ahead of print].
Chawarska, K., Paul, R., Klin, A., Hannigen, S., Dichtel, L. E., & Volkmar, F. (2007). Parental recognition of developmental problems in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(1), 62–72.
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1996). Temperament: Theory and practice. New York: Bruner Mazel.
Clifford, S., Hudry, K., Elsabbagh, M., Charman, T., & Johnson, M. (2013). Temperament in the first 2 years of life in infants at high-risk for autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 43(3), 673–686 [Epub ahead of print].
Courchesne, E., Carper, R., & Akshoomoff, N. (2003). Evidence of brain overgrowth in the first year of life in autism. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 290(3), 337–344.
Davis, N. O., & Carter, A. S. (2008). Parenting stress in mothers and fathers of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders: Associations with child characteristics. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(7), 1278–1291.
De Pauw, S. S. W., Mervielde, I., Van Leeuwen, K. G., & De Clercq, B. J. (2011). How temperament and personality contribute to the maladjustment of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 196–212.
Fullard, W., McDevitt, S. C., & Carey, W. B. (1984). Assessing temperament in one- to three-year-old children. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 9(2), 205–217.
Garon, N., Bryson, S. E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Smith, I. M., Brian, J., Roberts, W., et al. (2009). Temperament and its relationship to autistic symptoms in a high-risk infant sib cohort. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 59–78.
Goldsmith, H. H., Buss, A. H., Plomin, R., Rothbart, M. K., Thomas, A., Chess, S., et al. (1987). Roundtable: What is temperament? Four approaches. Child Development, 58(2), 505–529.
Guerin, D. W., & Gottfried, A. W. (1994). Developmental stability and change in parent reports of temperament: A ten-year longitudinal investigation from infancy through preadolescence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40(3), 334–355.
Hardy, M. A. (1993). Regression with dummy variables. Quantitative applications in the social sciences (1st ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.
Hepburn, S. L., & Stone, W. L. (2006). Using Carey temperament scales to assess behavioral style in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 637–642.
Hutman, T., Chela, M., Gillespie-Lynch, K., & Sigman, M. (2012). Selective visual attention at twelve months: Signs of autism in early social interactions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 487–498.
Javali, S. B., Gudaganavar, N. V., & Shodan, M. J. (2011). Effect of varying sample size in estimation of reliability coefficients of internal consistency. WebmedCentral BIOSTATISTICS, 2(2), WMC001572.
Kasari, C., & Sigman, M. (1997). Linking parental perceptions to actions in young children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27(1), 39–57.
Konstantareas, M. M., & Stewart, K. (2006). Affect regulation and temperament in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(2), 143–154.
Le Couteur, A., Haden, G., Hammal, D., & McConachie, H. (2008). Diagnosing autism spectrum disorders in pre-school children using two standardised assessment instruments: The ADI-R and the ADOS. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(2), 362–372.
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., et al. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule—generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205–223.
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview—revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 659–685.
Maestro, S., Muratori, F., Cavallaro, M. C., Pei, F., Stern, D., Golse, B., et al. (2002). Attentional skills during the first 6 months of age in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(10), 1239–1245.
Mangelsdorf, S., Gunnar, M., Kestenbaum, R., Lang, S., & Andreas, D. (1990). Infant proneness-to-distress temperament, maternal personality, and mother-infant attachment: Associations and goodness of fit. Child Development, 61(3), 820–831.
Matheny, A, Jr, Wilson, R., & Nuss, S. M. (1984). Toddler temperament: Stability across settings and over ages. Child Development, 55(4), 1200–1211.
McDevitt, S. C., & Carey, W. B. (1978). The measurement of temperament in 3–7 year old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 19, 245–253.
Mervielde, I., & De Pauw, S. S. W. (2012). Models of child temperament. In M. Zentner & R. L. Shiner (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (1st ed., pp. 21–40). NY: The Guilford Press.
Mullen, E. M. (1995). Mullen scales of early learning manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Mundy, P., Henderson, H. A., Inge, A. P., & Coman, D. (2007). The modifier model of autism and social development in higher functioning children. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 32(2), 124–139.
Ozonoff, S., Iosif, A.-M., Baguio, F., Cook, I. C., Hill, M. M., Hutman, T., et al. (2010). A prospective study of the emergence of early behavioral signs of autism. Journal of the American Academy of Adolescence and Psychiatry, 49(3), 256–266.
Ozonoff, S., Young, G., Carter, A., Messinger, D., Yirmiya, N., Zwaigenbaum, L., et al. (2011). Recurrence risk for autism spectrum disorders: A baby siblings research consortium study. Pediatrics, 128(3), 488–495.
Ozonoff, S., Young, G. S., Steinfeld, M. B., Hill, M. M., Cook, I., Hutman, T., et al. (2009). How early do parent concerns predict later autism diagnosis? Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics: JDBP, 30(5), 367.
Presley, R., & Martin, R. P. (1994). Toward a structure of preschool temperament: Factor structure of the temperament assessment battery for children. Journal of Personality, 62(3), 415–448.
Putnam, S. P., Gartstein, M. A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Measurement of fine-grained aspects of toddler temperament: The early childhood behavior questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 386–401.
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2001). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (advanced quantitative techniques in the social sciences) (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Roberts, B. W., & Delvecchio, W. F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126(1), 3–25.
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122–135.
Rozga, A., Hutman, T., Young, G. S., Rogers, S. J., Ozonoff, S., Dapretto, M., et al. (2011). Behavioral profiles of affected and unaffected siblings of children with autism: Contribution of measures of mother-infant interaction and nonverbal communication. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 41, 287–301.
Rutter, M., Bailey, A., & Lord, C. (2003). Social communication questionnaire. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Schwartz, C. B., Henderson, H. A., Inge, A. P., Zahka, N. E., Coman, D. C., Kojkowski, N. M., et al. (2009). Temperament as a predictor of symptomatology and adaptive functioning in adolescents with high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 39, 842–855.
Singer, J. D., & Willet, J. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sparrow, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Balla, D. A. (2005). Vineland adaptive behavior scales—2nd edition manual. Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson, Inc.
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. Oxford, England: Brunner/Mazel.
Thomas, A., Chess, S., & Birch, H. (1968). Temperament and behavior disorders in children. New York: New York University Press.
Thomas, A., Chess, S., Birch, H. G., Hertzig, M. E., & Korn, S. (1963). Behavioral individuality in early childhood. New York: New York University Press.
Turner, L. M., & Stone, W. L. (2007). Variability in outcome for children with an ASD diagnosis at age 2. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(8), 793–802.
Yirmiya, N., Gamliel, I., Pilowsky, T., Feldman, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & Sigman, M. (2006). The development of siblings of children with autism at 4 and 14 months: Social engagement, communication, and cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(5), 511–523.
Young, G. S., Rogers, S., Hutman, T., Rozga, A., Sigman, M., et al. (2011). Imitation from 12 to 24 months in autism and typical development: A longitudinal Rasch analysis. Developmental Psychology, 47(6), 1565–1578.
Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P. (2005). Behavioral manifestations of autism in the first year of life. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 23, 143–152.
Acknowledgments
We are deeply grateful to all the families who participated in this study, the research assistants who worked hard to collect and prepare the data, and Philip Ender, Joni Ricks, and Andy Lin at UCLA Statistical Consulting. The work that led to this article was supported by the following grants: NIMH U54-MH-068172 (Sigman, PI); NICHD 1P50-HD-55784 (Sigman, Bookheimer, PIs); NICHD R01-HD40432 (Johnson, PI).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
del Rosario, M., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Johnson, S. et al. Parent-Reported Temperament Trajectories Among Infant Siblings of Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 381–393 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1876-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1876-x