Brief report: The impact of the broad autism phenotype on parent perception of autism symptoms in their children with and without autism spectrum disorder compared to teachers.

This study looked at how parents who have some autism traits themselves might see autism symptoms differently in their children. Parents with more autism traits tended to report more autism symptoms in their children than teachers did. Children without autism from families where parents had more autism traits actually showed more autism-like behaviors at school. This suggests parents' own traits can affect how they see their child's behavior, which is important for getting accurate assessments.

This study examined how the broad autism phenotype (BAP) in parents affects their reporting of autism symptoms in their children. Analyzing 5,714 parent-child pairs, researchers compared parent and teacher ratings using standardized scales. Mothers with higher BAP levels over-reported autism symptoms in their children compared to teachers. Typically developing children from families with higher parental BAP showed more autism-like behaviors on teacher assessments.

For children with diagnosed ASD, parent-teacher discrepancies may reflect parental perception bias rather than actual symptom differences. The findings suggest that parental BAP influences symptom reporting accuracy and should be considered during clinical assessments and research interpretations.

Clinicians should consider parental BAP when interpreting caregiver reports during autism assessments. Multi-informant approaches using teacher reports may provide more objective symptom evaluation. Assessment protocols may need adjustment to account for potential parental reporting bias related to their own autism traits.

Study type not specified, limiting methodological evaluation. Sample characteristics beyond size not detailed. Causal relationships between parental BAP and child outcomes cannot be established. Cross-sectional design prevents understanding of temporal relationships.

Evaluation of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes caregiver-reported rating scales of symptom presentation. The extent to which a broad autism phenotype (BAP) in parents of children with ASD might impact their endorsement of autism symptoms in their children with and without ASD has not been well evaluated. This study analyzed whether varying degrees of parental BAP were associated with reported autism symptoms in offspring with and without ASD. We used the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire as a measure of BAP in parents and parent- and teacher-report on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) to assess autism symptoms in children with ASD and their typically developing (TD) siblings (N = 5714).

We assessed the relationship between parental BAP and parent-teacher discordance. We compared teacher reports of autism symptoms in children with varying degrees of BAP exposure. Mothers with higher levels of BAP over-reported autism symptoms in their children (compared to teachers) than mothers with lower BAP. TD children from parents with greater BAP displayed more autism symptoms than children from households with less BAP.

BAP is associated with parent report of autism symptoms when compared to teacher report. For children with ASD, it is possible that differences in ratings reflect parent perception and not autism symptomatology; whereas, TD children from households with higher levels of BAP exposure showed more phenotypic autism symptom presentation on teacher-completed measures. Researchers and clinicians should consider BAP when interpreting caregiver and teacher reports.