Quantifying compensatory strategies in adults with and without diagnosed autism
Quantifying compensatory strategies in adults with and without diagnosed autism
复制标题
DOI：
10.1186/s13229-019-0308-y
复制
发表时间：
2020-02-12
期刊：
影响因子：
6.2
通讯作者：
Happe, Francesca
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Livingston, Lucy Anne;Shah, Punit;Happe, Francesca
背景 人们越来越认识到，尽管继续经历与自闭症相关的认知困难（例如社交认知困难），但一些自闭症患者仍进行“补偿”，表现出很少的行为症状（例如神经典型的社交技能）。实现这一目标的一种方法是个人在日常社交互动中有意识地采用“补偿策略”。然而，目前人们对这些策略的广泛范围、其机制以及对临床表现和诊断的影响知之甚少。方法 我们的目的是首次测量自闭症的补偿策略。我们使用一份新颖的清单，量化了 117 名成年人（58 名自闭症患者，59 名非自闭症患者）自我报告的社会补偿策略，并探讨了补偿分数与自闭症诊断状态、自闭症特征、教育水平、诊断时性别和年龄之间的关系。结果较高的补偿分数（代表更多的补偿策略）与自闭症诊断、更多自闭症特征和较高的教育水平相关。然而，自闭症诊断状态和补偿分数之间的联系可以通过自闭症特征和教育水平来解释。补偿评分与诊断时的性别或年龄无关。局限性 我们的样本是自我选择的，主要由智力正常的女性组成；因此，我们的研究结果可能无法推广到更广泛的自闭症人群。结论 总之，我们的研究结果表明，许多智力正常的成年人，无论是否患有自闭症临床诊断，都报告使用补偿策略来改变他们的社会行为。我们讨论了测量自我报告的补偿（例如，使用我们的检查表）的临床效用，这对于自闭症及相关病症的准确诊断和管理具有重要意义。
Background There is growing recognition that some autistic people engage in 'compensation', showing few behavioural symptoms (e.g. neurotypical social skills), despite continuing to experience autism-related cognitive difficulties (e.g. difficulties in social cognition). One way this might be achieved is by individuals consciously employing 'compensatory strategies' during everyday social interaction. However, very little is currently known about the broad range of these strategies, their mechanisms and consequences for clinical presentation and diagnosis. Methods We aimed to measure compensatory strategies in autism for the first time. Using a novel checklist, we quantified self-reported social compensatory strategies in 117 adults (58 with autism, 59 without autism) and explored the relationships between compensation scores and autism diagnostic status, autistic traits, education level, sex and age at diagnosis. Results Higher compensation scores-representing a greater repertoire of compensatory strategies-were associated with having an autism diagnosis, more autistic traits and a higher education level. The link between autism diagnostic status and compensation scores was, however, explained by autistic traits and education level. Compensation scores were unrelated to sex or age at diagnosis. Limitations Our sample was self-selected and predominantly comprised of intellectually able females; therefore, our findings may not generalise to the wider autistic population. Conclusions Together, our findings suggest that many intellectually able adults, with and without a clinical diagnosis of autism, report using compensatory strategies to modify their social behaviour. We discuss the clinical utility of measuring self-reported compensation (e.g., using our checklist), with important implications for the accurate diagnosis and management of autism and related conditions.