Continuity of temperament subgroup classifications from infancy to toddlerhood in the context of early autism traits

Lacey Chetcuti; Mirko Uljarević; Kandice J Varcin; Maryam Boutrus; Stefanie Dimov; Sarah Pillar; Josephine Barbaro; Cheryl Dissanayake; Jonathan Green; Andrew J O Whitehouse; Kristelle Hudry; AICES Team

doi:10.1002/aur.2874

Continuity of temperament subgroup classifications from infancy to toddlerhood in the context of early autism traits

Autism Res. 2023 Mar;16(3):591-604. doi: 10.1002/aur.2874. Epub 2022 Dec 13.

Authors

Lacey Chetcuti^{1

2}, Mirko Uljarević^{3

4}, Kandice J Varcin^{5

6}, Maryam Boutrus^{2

6}, Stefanie Dimov¹, Sarah Pillar⁶, Josephine Barbaro^{2

7}, Cheryl Dissanayake^{2

7}, Jonathan Green^{8

9}, Andrew J O Whitehouse^{2

6}, Kristelle Hudry¹; AICES Team

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
² Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), Long Pocket, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
³ Stanford Autism Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA.
⁴ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ School of Allied Health Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
⁶ Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
⁷ Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
⁹ Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust, Manchester, UK.

PMID: 36511365
DOI: 10.1002/aur.2874

Abstract

Our previous cross-sectional investigation (Chetcuti et al., 2020) showed that infants with autism traits could be divided into distinct subgroups based on temperament. This longitudinal study builds on this existing work by exploring the continuity of temperament subgroup classifications and their associations with behavioral/clinical phenotypic features from infancy to toddlerhood. 103 infants (68% male) showing early signs of autism were referred to the study by community healthcare professionals and seen for assessments when aged around 12-months (Time 1), 18-months (Time 2), and 24-months (Time 3). Latent profile analysis revealed inhibited/low positive, active/negative reactive, and sociable/well-regulated subgroups at each timepoint, and a unique reactive/regulated subgroup at Time 3. Cross-tabulations indicated a significant likelihood of children having a recurrent subgroup classification from one timepoint to the next, and no apparent patterns to the movement of children who did change from one subgroup to another over time. Temperament subgroups were associated with concurrent child social-emotional functioning and autism traits, but unrelated to child age, sex, or developmental level. These findings suggest that temperament subgroup classifications might represent a reliable and very early indicator of autism characteristics and social-emotional functioning among infants/toddlers with autism traits.

Keywords: autism; child development; social-emotional functioning; subgroups; temperament.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Aged
Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Autistic Disorder* / diagnosis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Infant
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Temperament

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding