Age and IQ as Potential Moderators in the Relation Among Endopheonotypes and Expressed Behaviors in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

<p>The current study examined how certain endophenotypes (i.e., local processing ability, mental flexibility, planning, and disinhibition /inhibition) are related to specific expressed behaviors (i.e., acting out behaviors, social insight deficits, social contact problems, anxious/rigid behaviors, and stereotypical behaviors) that are commonly found in children with ASD. In addition, this study examined whether these associations are modified by age or IQ. Participants consisted of 29 children (ages 7 to 16 years) with ASD and their parents. Parents completed the Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) to assess their child’s variety of expressed behaviors. The children were given the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test—Second Edition to assess IQ, an Embedded Figures Test to assess local processing ability, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task to assess mental flexibility, the Tower of London task to assess planning ability, and a Go/No Go task to assess disinhibition/inhibition. It was expected that local processing ability would be positively related with social contact problems, social insight problems, anxious/rigid behaviors, and stereotypical behaviors. Mental flexibility was expected to be negatively related with social contact problems, social insight problems, anxious/rigid behaviors, and stereotypical behaviors. Planning abilities were expected to be negatively related with acting out behaviors and social insight problems. Disinhibition was expected to be positively related with acting out behaviors, and inhibition was expected to be positively related with anxious/rigid behaviors. Also, it was expected that age and IQ would moderate the relations between endophenotypes and expressed behaviors such that older age and higher IQ will attenuate the relations. However, these predictions were unsupported, potentially largely due to a small sample size leading to low power. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research to better understand underlying factors that relate to these expressed behaviors are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Fair, Elizabeth Clara

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tammy Barry
• Christopher Barry
• Roberty Lyman

• autism
• executive functioning
• expressed behaviors
• Child Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• School Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/105

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1111