Autistic traits in southern Brazilian college students: tracking road autism phenotype in the academia / Traços autisticos em estudantes do colégio do sul do Brasil: rastreamento do fenótipo do autismo amplo na academia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34117/bjdv8n3-256Keywords:
autism, education, university, skills, talents.Abstract
Introduction: Autism is considered a clinical condition distinct from the general population, while autistic traits may be continuously distributed across the population and referred to as "broader autism phenotype (BAP)." Few studies currently address autistic traits in the general population, and little is known about the relationship between the psychiatric condition and the BAP. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of autistic traits in a sample of undergraduate students. Methods: An online survey was applied containing sociodemographic questions and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a widely used scale to quantify autistic traits in the general population. The AQ has 50 items, divided into five subscales consisting of 10 items each that assess domains of cognitive strengths and difficulties related to ASD. Results: A total of 1.167 students answered the questionnaire, with a female predominance (70%). The most representative higher educational areas were the Health Sciences (54%), followed by Engineering (12.3%). A total of 44 participants (3.8%) reached the AQ cut-off of 32+ points, indicating the presence of autistic traits, 25 (54.3%) female, and 21 (45.6%) male students. The higher academic areas with the highest frequency of autistic traits were linguistics, letters, and arts (12.5%), followed by engineering (6.9%). Conclusion: Musicians, scientists, and mathematicians have higher AQ scores than students from different areas. The investigation of autistic traits in the general population might help understand the autism spectrum itself and discuss autism from an educational viewpoint.
References
Arnett J. J. (2008). The neglected 95%: why American psychology needs to become less American. The American psychologist, 63(7), 602–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602
Baron-Cohen S. (2006). The hyper-systemizing, assortative mating theory of autism. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 30(5), 865–872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.010
Baron-Cohen, S., & Hammer, J. (1997). Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome: What is the Cognitive Phenotype?. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 9(4), 548–554. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.1997.9.4.548
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 31(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1005653411471
Bonnel, A., Mottron, L., Peretz, I., Trudel, M., Gallun, E., & Bonnel, A. M. (2003). Enhanced pitch sensitivity in individuals with autism: a signal detection analysis. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 15(2), 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1162/089892903321208169
Constantino, J. N., & Todd, R. D. (2003). Autistic traits in the general population: a twin study. Archives of general psychiatry, 60(5), 524–530. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.60.5.524
de Paula, L. D. S. P., Gomes, M. B., Martins, P. A. M., de Oliveira, S. P., Lima, S. R., Faco, T. B., ... & Paulo, M. S. L. (2020). Influência familiar e escolar no desenvolvimento de crianças autistas: Uma revisão da literature. Brazilian Journal of Development, 6(11), 92513-92521.
Dohn, A., Garza-Villarreal, E. A., Heaton, P., & Vuust, P. (2012). Do musicians with perfect pitch have more autism traits than musicians without perfect pitch? An empirical study. PloS one, 7(5), e37961. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037961
Dommeyer, C. J., Baum, P., Hanna, R. W., & Chapman, K. S. (2004). Gathering faculty teaching evaluations by in-class and online surveys: their effects on response rates and evaluations. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(5):611-23.
Hodges, H., Fealko, C., & Soares, N. (2020). Autism spectrum disorder: definition, epidemiology, causes, and clinical evaluation. Translational pediatrics, 9(Suppl 1), S55–S65. https://doi.org/10.21037/tp.2019.09.092.
Kanner L (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2:217-50.
Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., & Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder. Lancet (London, England), 392(10146), 508–520. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31129-23.
Peklari, E. (2019). Mathematical skills in autism spectrum disorder. Asian Journal of Applied Science and Technology (AJAST), 3(1):111-23.
Pisula, E., Kawa, R., Szostakiewicz, Ł., Łucka, I., Kawa, M., & Rynkiewicz, A. (2013). Autistic traits in male and female students and individuals with high functioning autism spectrum disorders measured by the
Polish version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. PloS one, 8(9), e75236. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075236
Reed, P., Giles, A., Gavin, M., Carter, N., & Osborne, L. A. (2016). Loneliness and social anxiety mediate the relationship between autism quotient and quality of life in university students. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disability, 28(5):723-33.
Sasson, N. J., Lam, K. S., Parlier, M., Daniels, J. L., & Piven, J. (2013). Autism and the broad autism phenotype: familial patterns and intergenerational transmission. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 5(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1866-1955-5-11
Sato, F. P., Paula, C. S., Lowenthal, R., Nakano, E. Y., Brunoni, D., Schwartzman, J. S., & Mercadante, M. T. (2009). Instrument to screen cases of pervasive developmental disorder: a preliminary indication of validity. Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999), 31(1), 30–33. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1516-44462009000100008
Stallman H. M. (2008). Prevalence of psychological distress in university students--implications for service delivery. Australian family physician, 37(8), 673–677.
Stevenson, J. L., & Hart, K. R. (2017). Psychometric Properties of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient for Assessing Low and High Levels of Autistic Traits in College Students. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 47(6), 1838–1853. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3109-1
Vicknair, J., Elkersh, D., & Yancey, K. C., (2010). The use of social networking websites as a recruiting tool for employers. American Journal of Business Education, 3(11):7-12.
Wenhart, T., Bethlehem, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & Altenmüller, E. (2019). Autistic traits, resting-state connectivity, and absolute pitch in professional musicians: shared and distinct neural features. Molecular autism, 10, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-019-0272-6
White, S. W., Ollendick, T. H., & Bray, B. C. (2011). College students on the autism spectrum: prevalence and associated problems. Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 15(6), 683–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361310393363
Woodbury-Smith, M. R., Robinson, J., Wheelwright, S., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2005). Screening adults for Asperger Syndrome using the AQ: a preliminary study of its diagnostic validity in clinical practice. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 35(3), 331–335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-005-3300-7.
