Autism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Autism, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, effects.

The genetic relationship between individual differences in social and nonsocial behaviours characteristic of autism.

Ronald A, Happé F, Plomin R

Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. a.ronald@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Two types of behaviours shown in children - those reflecting social impairment and nonsocial obsessive repetitive behaviours - are central to defining and diagnosing autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Parent and teacher data on social and nonsocial behaviours were obtained from a community sample of >3000 7-year-old twin pairs. Social and nonsocial behaviours were only modestly correlated, and it was found that some individuals had extreme scores on either social or nonsocial scales but not both. Genetic model-fitting showed that social and nonsocial behaviours are both highly heritable, but their genetic overlap is modest, with most of the genetic influence being specific to either social or nonsocial behaviours. Considering these behaviours separately might help clarify gene-brain-behaviour pathways in future research.

Published 28 July 2005 in Dev Sci, 8(5): 444-58.
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