| ObjectiveBased on the revision and evaluation of the Short Self-reported Adolescent Version of Autism Spectrum Quotient(AQ-SSAV),the aims are to describe the prevalence of adolescents with high autism traits,and to explore the relationship between high autism traits and psychological behavior,and also to explore the tendency of adolescents'empathy and the characteristics of emotional face processing of the individuals with high autistic trait.MethodsA total of 2,644 junior and senior high school students from Fuyang,Hefei and Wuhu of Anhui Province were selected by stratified cluster sampling.The questionnaire was revised from sensitivity,representativeness,internal consistency and other indicators,and was evaluated by factor analysis and reliability and validity test.Then using the same method,a total of 7,521 middle school students from Wuhu,Lu'an,Fuyang and Hefei of Anhui Province were selected as the survey subjects.The information of demographic characteristics,autistic traits,depressive symptoms,NSSI behavior and empathy ability were collected.The detection of high autistic traits was described,Chi Square tests were used to compare the distribution characteristics of high autistic traits between different characteristics,and multivariable Logistic regression models were used to analyze the relationships between autistic traits and the above psychological behavior.Bootstrap program and PROCESS software were applied to test the mediating and moderating effect of empathy in the association between autistic traits and depressive symptoms.Using case control design,a total of 96 students from high autistic traits,general groups and low autistic groups were selected,and the common tendency and emotional face processing characteristics of the two groups were measured using Multifaced Empathy Test(MET)and Emotional Face Processing task(EFP task),and 83subjects were finally included for the final analysis.ResultsThrough item analysis and factor analysis,AQ-SSAV was finally divided into 2dimensions with 22 items in total.The cumulative contribution rate of variance was52.29%.The retest-reliability,Cronbach's?coefficient and split reliability coefficient of the total questionnaire were 0.752,0.843 and 0.859,respectively.The mean S-CVI(S-CVI/AVE)in the content validity was 0.98,which was statistically significant in relation to the total alexithymia questionnaire and all dimensions.At the same time,the continuous distribution of autistic traits in the population was verified in this study,and the demarcation values of high and low autistic traits in adolescents were?59 points and?37 points respectively.By cross-sectional survey high adolescent autistic traits group detection rate was 14.4%.There were statistically significant differences among different grades,places of residence,parents'education level,left-behind experience,number of brothers and sisters,self-rated achievement level and self-rated family economic situation.However,there was no statistical significance among different genders and different family forms.Four kinds of depressive symptoms in different detection condition between autistic traits level difference was statistically significant(?~2=455.696,P<0.001).The level of autistic traits was positively correlated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms.After controlling for confectioners,the multivariate Logistic regression model showed that ordinary and high autistic traits were still positively correlated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms(OR=1.879 and OR=3.936,P<0.001).There were statistically significant differences in the detection of None NSSI,occasional NSSI and multiple NSSI among different levels of autistic traits(?~2=21.937,P<0.001).Single-factor Logistic regression model analysis showed that high autistic traits were positively correlated with the occurrence of NSSI(OR=1.393,P<0.001).By cross-sectional survey,here were statistically significant differences in empathy among different autistic traits(F=21.97?210.37,P<0.001),and with the increase of autistic traits,the overall trend of empathy decreased.However,the scores of personal distress and emotional empathy increased with the increase in the level of autism.After controlling for confounding factors,the mediating effect of personal distress dimension between autistic traits and depression was 17.66%.The regression coefficients of"autistic trait×personal distress"and"autistic trait×(empathy concern+personal distress)"were statistically significant(?=-0.0114,t=-3.1749,P=0.0015;?=-0.0093,t=-3.4792,P=0.005),and the moderating effect was significant(R~2=0.2176,P<0.001;R~2=0.2179,P<0.001).In the Emotional Face Processing task(EFP task),there was a statistically significant difference in the fixation time among the three groups among different emotions(F=3.644,P=0.008).Covariance analysis was conducted with the eye fixation time of emotional joy as the reference,and the difference of eye fixation time of anger,sadness,surprise,fear and disgust was statistically significant.The trend chart of eye fixation time showed that the eye fixation time of three groups of subjects was the longest in emotional anger.The difference of nose fixation time among the three groups was statistically significant(F=5.898,P=0.009).The fixation time of the low autistic trait group was the longest,and the high autistic trait group was the shortest.The three groups of subjects with different emotions had statistically significant differences in the gaze time of the mouth(F=5.522,P<0.001).The trend chart showed that the gaze time of the mouth was the longest in the happy emotion picture.There were statistically significant differences in the fixation time in the non-core area among the three groups of subjects in different emotional categories(F=3.119,P=0.009),and the fixation time in the non-core area was the longest in the group with high autistic traits.Conclusions(1)The version of the Self-assessment Questionnaire of Adolescent Autism Traits conformed to the requirements of psychodeoting and can be used to conduct epidemiological surveys on the level of adolescent autism traits.It was suggested that?59 points should be recommended as the demarcation value of high autism traits.(2)The detection rate of high autistic traits in adolescents was about 14.4%,and there was statistically significant correlation between high autistic traits and depressive symptoms and NSSI,but no statistically significant correlation between high autistic traits and suicide-related psychological behaviors.High autistic individuals showed different directions in cognitive empathy and affective empathy,and the mediating and moderating effects showed that high scores in personal pain and affective empathy played a protective role between autistic traits and depression levels.(3)There was a significant difference between adolescents with high autistic traits and the general population in their cognition of other people's emotional intensity,especially their cognition of negative emotional intensity;The duration and frequency of fixation in the two core areas of eyes and mouth of the adolescents with high autistic traits were less than those of the control group.The fixation time in non-core areas were more than those in the control group.The addressing time of the faces with negative emotions,such as anger,fear and sadness,was longer than that of the faces with positive emotions. |
PDF Full Text Request