Table 4 Overview of studies included in the meta-analysis of within-couple correlations for autistic traits.
References | Year | Journal | Location | Population | Measurement | n | Effect size | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bishop et al.72 | 2004 | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | Australia | Parents of autistic children (Western Australia Family Study of Autistic Spectrum Disorders) and control parents (recruited via advertisements sent to schools in the Perth Metropolitan Region) | Presence/absence of Broader Autism Phenotype (determined via a principal components analysis of the AQ Social Skill and Communication subscales) | 49 | ϕ = − 0.16 | 0.459 |
Constantino and Todd40 | 2005 | Biological Psychiatry | USA | Missouri Twin Study (parents of twins) | SRS | 285 | ICC = 0.38 | < 0.05 |
Hoekstra et al.46 | 2007 | Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine | Netherlands | Parents of twins | Dutch AQ | 128 | r = 0.05 | 0.59 |
Losh et al.47 | 2008 | American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics | USA | Parents of autistic children (simplex families, n = 35; multiplex families, n = 23) | Factor 1: Language Factor 2: Rigidity Factor 3: Anxiety Factor 4: Sociability | 58 58 58 58 | rs = 0.01–0.23 rs = 0.01–0.23 rs = 0.01–0.23 rs = 0.01–0.23 | n.s n.s n.s n.s |
Virkud et al.45 | 2009 | American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics | USA | Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (parents of autistic children [multiplex families]); parents of Washington University male siblings study (simplex families) | SRS | 99 | ICC = 0.26 | < 0.01 |
Hoekstra et al.42 | 2010 | Behavior Genetics | Netherlands | Parents of twins | Dutch AQ-Short | 305 | r = 0.13 | < 0.05? |
Schwichtenburg et al.44 | 2010 | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | USA | Parents sampled by UCD (n = 115) and UCLA (n = 102) of at least one autistic child n = 135 or no autistic (but typically developing) child n = 82 | SRS | 217 | β = 0.34 | < 0.05? |
Pollmann et al.48 | 2010 | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Netherlands | Couples married for 10 months | Modified Dutch AQ-Short | 195 | r = 0.03 | n.s |
Seidman et al.50 | 2012 | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Israel | Parents of autistic children | BAPQ Total (Hebrew) (SR + IR) BAPQ Aloof (Hebrew) (SR + IR) BAPQ Rigid (Hebrew) (SR + IR) BAPQ Pragmatic Language (Hebrew) (SR + IR) | 76 76 76 76 | – r = -0.33 – r = 0.36 | – 0.04 – 0.03 |
van Steijn et al.49 | 2012 | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | Netherlands | Parents of autistic children (with or without ADHD) | AQ (alternative scoring method) | 121 | r = 0.0 | n.s |
Baron-Cohen et al.14 | 2014 | PLoS ONE | UK | Parents of autistic children in the Cambridge Autism Research Database (CARD) | AQ | 92 | r = − 0.096 | 0.365 |
UK | Parents without autistic children in the Cambridge Autism Research Database (CARD) | AQ | 29 | r = 0.077 | 0.693 | |||
Lau et al.73 | 2014 | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Taiwan | Parents of autistic children | AQ-Chinese | 491 | ϕ = 0.10 | 0.032 |
Lyall et al.43 | 2014 | JAMA Psychiatry | USA | Nurses’ Health Study II parents of autistic children | SRS | 1198* | r = 0.25 | - |
USA | Nurses’ Health Study II control parents | SRS | 1198* | r = 0.34 | - | |||
Duvekot et al.41 | 2016 | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | Netherlands | Social Spectrum Study parents of children referred for various mental health conditions; 159 families of children at risk for autism (parent-reported SRS-2 total score of ≥ 75) and 72 families of children considered not at risk for autism (parent-reported SRS-2 total score of < 75) | SRS-2 | 231 | b = 0.27 | < 0.001 |
Connolly et al.39 | 2019 | Biological Psychiatry | Europe/North America | Autism Genome Project (parents of autistic children [simplex and multiplex families]) | BAPQ Total (SR + IR) BAPQ Aloof (SR + IR) BAPQ Rigid (SR + IR) BAPQ Pragmatic Language (SR + IR) SRS-A Total (IR) SRS-A Awareness (IR) SRS-A Cognition (IR) SRS-A Mannerisms (IR) SRS-A Motivation (IR) SRS-A Communication (IR) | 270 270 270 270 428 428 428 428 428 428 | r = 0.37 – r = 0.28 r = 0.43 rs = 0.44 rs = 0.31 rs = 0.45 rs = 0.42 – rs = 0.40 | < 0.001 n.s < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 n.s < 0.001 |
North America | Simons Simplex Collection (parents of autistic children [simplex families]) | BAPQ Total (SR) BAPQ Aloof (SR) BAPQ Rigid (SR) BAPQ Pragmatic Language (SR) SRS-A Total (IR) SRS-A Awareness (IR) SRS-A Cognition (IR) SRS-A Mannerisms (IR) SRS-A Motivation (IR) SRS-A Communication (IR) | 1945 1945 1945 1945 1953 1953 1953 1953 1953 1953 | – – – – rs = 0.34 - rs = 0.32 rs = 0.29 - rs = 0.30 | n.s n.s n.s n.s < 0.001 n.s < 0.001 < 0.001 n.s < 0.001 | |||
Richards et al. (current study) | 2022 | Scientific Reports | UK | Unmarried heterosexual couples from the general population | AQ | 59 | rs = 0.434 | 0.001 |
UK | Married/engaged heterosexual couples from the general population | AQ | 45 | rs = 0.058 | 0.704 |
