Toward better characterization of restricted and unusual interests in youth with autism

M Uljarević; GA Alvares; M Steele; J Edwards; TW Frazier; AY Hardan; AJO Whitehouse

Journal article

Toward better characterization of restricted and unusual interests in youth with autism

M Uljarević, GA Alvares, M Steele, J Edwards, TW Frazier, AY Hardan, AJO Whitehouse

Autism | Published : 2022

DOI: 10.1177/13623613211056720

Abstract

Despite their high prevalence and clinical importance in autism, unusual and restricted interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This study aimed to characterize the frequency and type of interests in autism by coding caregivers’ open-ended responses in a sample of 237 autistic children and adolescents (Mage = 8.27 years, SDage = 4.07; range: 2.08–18.25 years). It further aimed to explore the effects of age, sex, cognitive functioning and social and communication deficits on the number and type of interests. We found that 75% of autistic youth had at least one interest and that 50% of those children showed two or more different interests. The most frequent interests were sens..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Mirko Uljarevic Author

Related Projects (1)

EMOTIONAL AND SOCIO-COMMUNICATIVE DOMAINS IN DEVELOPMENT

This project aims to test whether Research Domain Criteria are effective in predicting developmental outcomes, for example educational attai..

Grants

Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health

Funding Acknowledgements

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH121876-01; Hardan & Jo). M.U. is currently supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE180100632). A.J.O.W. is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (APP1077966).