A Multivariate Twin Study of Autistic Traits in 12-Year-Olds: Testing the Fractionable Autism Triad Hypothesis |
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| Authors: | Elise B Robinson Karestan C Koenen Marie C McCormick Kerim Munir Victoria Hallett Francesca Happé Robert Plomin Angelica Ronald |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 185 Cambridge St., 6.236, Boston, MA 02114, USA;(2) Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) Program, Division of Developmental Medicine, The Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA;(3) Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetics Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA;(4) Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02114, USA;(5) Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA;(6) Department of Psychiatry, The Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA;(7) King’s College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK;(8) Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA;(9) Center for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK |
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| Abstract: | Autistic traits—social impairment, communication impairment, and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests—are heritable
in the general population. Previous analyses have consistently reported limited genetic and environmental overlap between
autistic trait domains in samples assessed in middle childhood. Here we extend this research to parent-report data for 12-year-olds.
Data from 5,944 pairs in the Twins Early Development Study were analyzed to explore the domain-specific heritability and degree
of shared genetic and environmental influences across different autistic traits in the general population and among individuals
scoring in the top 5% of each domain. Sex differences in the etiological estimates were also tested in these analyses. Autistic
traits were moderately to highly heritable (0.58–0.88) at age 12. Bivariate genetic correlations in the full sample (0.18–0.40)
and the extremes (0.24–0.67), as well as even lower unique environmental correlations, all suggested considerable fractionation
of genetic and environmental influences across autistic trait domains, in line with previous findings. |
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