Journal article

The Role of Negative Affectivity in Concurrent Relations Between Caregiver Psychological Distress and Social-Emotional Difficulties in Infants With Early Signs of Autism

Lacey Chetcuti, Mirko Uljarevi, Kandice J Varcin, Maryam Boutrus, Ming Wai Wan, Vicky Slonims, Jonathan Green, Leonie Segal, Teresa Iacono, Cheryl Dissanayake, Andrew JO Whitehouse, Kristelle Hudry

AUTISM RESEARCH | WILEY | Published : 2020

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests the link between caregiver psychological distress and offspring social‐emotional difficulties may be accounted for by offspring temperament characteristics. However, existing studies have only focused on neurotypical children; thus, the current study sought to provide an initial examination of this process among children with varying levels of early autism features. Participants included 103 infants aged 9–16 months (M = 12.39, SD = 1.97; 68% male) and their primary caregiver (96% mothers) referred to a larger study by community healthcare professionals. We utilized caregiver‐reported measures of psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales), infant tempe..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Awarded by National Health and Medical Council


Funding Acknowledgements

We would like to thank families for their participation. We also thank Sarah Fritsche, Natalie Mizzi, Ashley Rattenbury, Megan Harrap, and Sarah Pillar for assistance with data entry. This research formed part of L. Chetcuti's Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research, supported by a La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Autism Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC), established and supported under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program. The larger study from which these data were available is funded by grants from the Telethon-Perth Children's Hospital, Autism CRC, La Trobe University Understanding Disease Research Focus Area, and the Angela Wright Bennett Foundation. M.U. is supported by a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council (DE180100632). A.J.O.W. is supported by a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Council (#1077966).