Abstract:
Studies show associations between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and child autism, with little attention paid to PNMS and autism in young adulthood. The broad autism phenotype (BAP), encompassing sub-clinical levels of autism, includes aloof personality, pragmatic language impairment and rigid personality. It remains unclear whether different aspects of PNMS explain variance in different BAP domains in young adult offspring. We recruited women who were pregnant during, or within 3 months of, the 1998 Quebec ice storm crisis, and assessed three aspects of their stress (i.e., objective hardship, subjective distress and cognitive appraisal). At age 19, the young adult offspring (n = 33, 22F / 11M) completed a BAP self-report. Linear and logistic regressions were implemented to examine associations between PNMS and BAP traits. Up to 21.4% of the variance in BAP total score and in BAP three domains tended to be explained by at least one aspect of maternal stress, For example, 16.8% of the variance in aloof personality tended to be explained by maternal objective hardship; 15.1% of the variance in pragmatic language impairment tended to be explained by maternal subjective distress; 20.0% of the variance in rigid personality tended to be explained by maternal objective hardship and 14.3% by maternal cognitive appraisal. Given the small sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution. In conclusion, this small prospective study suggests that different aspects of maternal stress could have differential effects on different components of BAP traits in young adults.
摘要:
研究表明,产前产妇压力(PNMS)与儿童自闭症之间存在关联,在年轻的成年时期很少关注PNMS和自闭症。广泛的自闭症表型(BAP),包括自闭症的亚临床水平,包括超然的个性,语用语言障碍和僵化的人格。目前尚不清楚PNMS的不同方面是否可以解释年轻成年后代不同BAP域的差异。我们招募了怀孕期间的妇女,或在三个月内,1998年魁北克冰暴危机,并评估了他们压力的三个方面(即,客观的困难,主观痛苦和认知评估)。在19岁时,年轻的成年后代(n=33,22F/11M)完成了BAP自我报告。实施线性和逻辑回归以检查PNMS和BAP性状之间的关联。BAP总分和BAP三个领域的差异高达21.4%,至少可以通过母体压力的一个方面来解释。例如,超然人格变异的16.8%倾向于由母亲的客观困难解释;语用语言障碍变异的15.1%倾向于由母亲的主观困扰解释;僵化人格变异的20.0%倾向于由母亲的客观困难解释,由母亲的认知评估解释14.3%。鉴于样本量小,结果应谨慎解释.总之,这项小型前瞻性研究表明,母体压力的不同方面可能对青壮年BAP特征的不同组成部分产生不同的影响.