Abstract
Alexithymia impacts an individual’s ability to recognize and understand emotions and frequently co-occurs with autism. This study investigated the relationship between children’s alexithymia, autistic traits, and caregiver reactions to their child’s negative emotions. Caregivers of 54 autistic and 51 non-autistic children between the ages of 7 and 12 years rated their child’s alexithymia and autistic trait severity and their reactions to their child’s negative emotions. Caregivers of autistic children reported greater supportive reactions and fewer restrictive/controlling reactions to their child’s negative emotions when their child had more alexithymia traits. This study extends previous research by demonstrating that caregivers of autistic children with co-occurring alexithymia traits represent a specific subgroup of caregivers that respond more positively to their child’s negative emotions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Change history
10 May 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05605-z
References
Auyeung, B., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., & Allison, C. (2008). The autism spectrum quotient: Children’s version (AQ-Child). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(7), 1230–1240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0504-z
Baron-Cohen, S., Hoekstra, R. A., Knickmeyer, R., & Wheelwright, S. (2006). The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) – Adolescent version. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(3), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0073-6
Bird, G., & Cook, R. (2013). Mixed emotions: The contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism. Translational Psychiatry, 3(7), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2013.61
Bougher-Muckian, H. R., Root, A. E., Coogle, C. G., & Floyd, K. K. (2016). The importance of emotions: The socialization of emotion in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Early Child Development and Care, 186(10), 1584–1593. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2015.1112799
Chaste, P., Roeder, K., & Devlin, B. (2017). The Yin and Yang of autism genetics: How rare de novo and common variations affect liability. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, 18, 167–187. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-083115-022647
Chen, X., Fu, R., & Yie, W. Y. V. (2019). Culture and parenting. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting (pp. 448–473). Routledge Handbooks Online. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429401459-14
Costa, A. P., Steffgen, G., & Vögele, C. (2019). The role of alexithymia in parent-child interaction and in the emotional ability of children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 12(3), 458–468. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2061
Cuzzocrea, F., Barberis, N., Costa, S., & Larcan, R. (2015). Relationship between alexithymia, parenting style, and parental control. Psychological Reports, 117(2), 580–596. https://doi.org/10.2466/21.10PR0.117/c22z7
Davis-Kean, P. E., Tang, S., & Waters, N. E. (2019). Parent education attainment and parenting. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting (pp. 400–420). Routledge Handbooks Online. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429401459-12
Dubey, A., & Pandey, R. (2013). Mental health problems in alexithymia: Role of positive and negative emotional experiences. SIS Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health, 20, 128–136
Fabes, R. A., Poulin, R. E., Eisenberg, N., & Madden-Derdich, D. A. (2002). The Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES): Psychometric properties and relations with children’s emotional competence. Marriage and Family Review, 34(3–4), 285–310. https://doi.org/10.1300/J002v34n03_05
Goldin, R. L., Matson, J. L., & Cervantes, P. E. (2014). The effect of intellectual disability on the presence of comorbid symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8, 1552–1556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2014.08.006
Guo, H., Wang, T., Wu, H., Long, M., Coe, B. P., Li, H. … Xia, K. (2018). Inherited and multiple de novo mutations in autism/developmental delay risk genes suggest a multifactorial model. Molecular Autism, 9(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-018-0247-z
Huang, C., Yen, H., Tseng, M., Tung, L., Chen, Y., & Chen, K. (2014). Impacts of autistic behaviours, emotional and behavioural problems on parenting stress in caregivers of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 1383–1390. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-2000-y
Jørgensen, M. M., Zachariae, R., Skytthe, A., & Kyvik, K. (2007). Genetic and environmental factors in alexithymia: A population-based study of 8,785 Danish twin pairs. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76(6), 369–375. https://doi.org/10.1159/000107565
Kinnaird, E., Stewart, C., & Tchanturia, K. (2019). Investigating alexithymia in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Psychiatry, 55, 80–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.09.004
Mezzavilla, M., Ulivi, S., La Bianca, M., Carlino, D., Gasparini, P., & Robino, A. (2015). Analysis of functional variants reveals new candidate genes associated with alexithymia. Psychiatry Research, 227(2–3), 363–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015/03.018
Pellerone, M., Tomasello, G., & Migliorisi, S. (2017). Relationship between parenting, alexithymia and adult attachment styles: A cross-sectional study on a group of adolescents and young adults. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 14(2), 125–134.
Picardi, A., Fagnani, C., Gigantesco, A., Toccaceli, V., Lega, I., & Stazi, M. A. (2011). Genetic influences on alexithymia and their relationship with depressive symptoms. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 71, 256–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.02.016
Poquérusse, J., Pastore, L., Dellantonio, S., & Esposito, G. (2018). Alexithymia and autism spectrum disorder: A complex relationship. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01196
Robinson, E. B., Samocha, K. E., Kosmicki, J. A., McGrath, L., Neale, B. M., Perlis, R. H., & Daly, M. J. (2014). Autism spectrum disorder severity reflects the average contribution of de novo and familial influences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(42), 15161–15165. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409204111
Rodas, N. V., Zeedyk, S. M., & Baker, B. L. (2016). Unsupportive parenting and internalizing behaviour problems in children with or without intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 60(12), 1200–1211. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12332
Ruzzo, E. K., Pérez-Cano, L., Jung, J. Y., Wang, L. K., Kashef-Haghighi, D., Hartl, C. … Wall, D. P. (2019). Inherited and de novo genetic risk for autism impacts shared networks. Cell, 178(4), 850–866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.015
Scheerer, N. E., Boucher, T. Q., & Iarocci, G. (2021). Alexithymia is related to poor social competence in autistic and non-autistic children. Autism Research, 14(6), 1252–1259. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2485
Statistics Canada (2020). Tables 37-10-0117-01 Educational attainment in the population aged 25 to 64, off-reserve Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and total population. https://doi.org/10.25318/3710011701-eng
Way, I. F., Applegate, B., Cai, X., Franck, L. K., Black-Pond, C., Yelsma, P. … Muliett, M. (2010). Children’s Alexithymia Measure (CAM): A new instrument for screening difficulties with emotional expression. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 3(4), 303–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361521.2010.523778
Wechsler, D. (2011). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence – Second edition (WASI-II). Psychological Corporation
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the families who participated in this research; to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and BrainsCAN for their support in funding this research project; and to the volunteers at the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Lab who helped make this research possible.
Funding
This study was supported by funds from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) awarded to Dr. Grace Iarocci; and Dr. Nichole E. Scheerer’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PDF Scholarship held at Simon Fraser University, as well as her BrainsCAN Postdoctoral Fellowship at Western University, funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data analyses were performed by Troy Q. Boucher, Nichole E. Scheerer, and Cassia L. McIntyre. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Cassia L. McIntyre. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Research Involving Human Participants
Ethics at Simon Fraser University, and all procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.
Informed Consent
Participants’ informed consent to participate and for publication were obtained before data collection.
Preprint DOI
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/t5mrb
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McIntyre, C.L., Boucher, T.Q., Scheerer, N.E. et al. Brief Report: Alexithymia Trait Severity, Not Autistic Trait Severity, Relates to Caregiver Reactions to Autistic Children’s Negative Emotions. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 4100–4106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05494-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05494-2