The Broad Autism Phenotype Within Mother-Child Interactions

Abstract

This study sought to identify features of the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) expressed by mothers during interactions with their infants to further understand how these features relate to early indicators of autism. Twelve mothers were selected who had an older child with autism, and the control group included twelve mothers who did not. Results demonstrated that the groups of mothers did not have significantly different responses on the BAP assessment, and they did not differ in any features of interactions, except that the experimental group used less inhibitory language. Children in the experimental group had lower language scores than the controls. When subjects were divided into groups based upon both child responsiveness and maternal BAP traits, subsequent patterns indicated four mother-child profiles, suggesting that a combination of maternal BAP characteristics and child behavior might influence interaction outcomes. Further research regarding BAP features as an early indicator for autism is discussed.