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Sex differences in the association between infant markers and later autistic traits

Overview of attention for article published in Molecular Autism, March 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (89th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (54th percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
twitter
15 X users
peer_reviews
1 peer review site
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

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37 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
143 Mendeley
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Title
Sex differences in the association between infant markers and later autistic traits
Published in
Molecular Autism, March 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13229-016-0081-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rachael Bedford, Emily J. H. Jones, Mark H. Johnson, Andrew Pickles, Tony Charman, Teodora Gliga

Abstract

Although it is well established that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is higher in males than females, there is relatively little understanding of the underlying mechanisms and their developmental time course. Sex-specific protective or risk factors have often been invoked to explain these differences, but such factors are yet to be identified. We take a developmental approach, using a prospective sample of 104 infants at high and low familial risk for ASD, to characterise sex differences in infant markers known to predict emerging autism symptoms. We examine three markers previously shown to be associated with later autistic social-communication symptoms: the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) total score, attention disengagement speed and gaze following behaviour. Our aim was to test whether sex differences were already present in these markers at 1 year of age, which would suggest sex-specific mechanisms of risk or protection. While no sex differences were found in any of the three markers investigated, we found sex differences in their relationship to 3-year autism traits; all three markers significantly predicted later autism traits only in the boys. Previously identified 'early autism markers' were associated with later autism symptoms only in boys. This suggests that there may be additional moderating risk or protective factors which remain to be identified. Our findings have important implications for prospective studies in terms of directly testing for the moderating effect of sex on emerging autistic traits.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 15 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 143 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Netherlands 1 <1%
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 141 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 29 20%
Researcher 24 17%
Student > Doctoral Student 12 8%
Student > Postgraduate 11 8%
Student > Ph. D. Student 11 8%
Other 34 24%
Unknown 22 15%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 56 39%
Medicine and Dentistry 17 12%
Neuroscience 16 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 5 3%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 3%
Other 16 11%
Unknown 28 20%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 19. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 December 2019.
All research outputs
#1,694,582
of 22,858,915 outputs
Outputs from Molecular Autism
#175
of 669 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#30,284
of 300,631 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Molecular Autism
#5
of 11 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,858,915 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 669 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 28.3. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 300,631 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 11 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its contemporaries.