Continuity of temperament subgroup classifications from infancy to toddlerhood in the context of early autism traits.
A quick temperament check at one year spots babies whose autism traits will grow—cheap, fast, and parent-friendly.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched 185 babies at 12 and 24 months old.
They used a short parent quiz to sort each baby into one of three temperament groups: flexible, feisty, or fearful.
At each visit they also ran the standard autism screener and a social-emotion checklist.
What they found
Eight out of ten babies stayed in the same temperament group across the whole year.
The flexible group had the lowest autism scores and the fewest tantrums.
The fearful group showed the most autism traits and the slowest social growth.
How this fits with other research
Ellefsen et al. (2007) counted how many school-age kids in the Faroe Islands have autism.
Their 0.56 % rate matches U.S. numbers, so the temperament link is not just a local quirk.
Burrows et al. (2018) saw repetitive grooming drop in autism mice after a drug, showing biology can shift behavior; Lacey's work says early temperament may flag which kids are most likely to need such help later.
Why it matters
You can add a five-minute parent temperament scale to your 12-month autism screen.
If the baby lands in the fearful group, plan closer follow-ups and start parent coaching early.
No extra gear is needed—just the same visit window you already use.
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Join Free →Tape the three-group temperament sheet to your intake clipboard and score it right after the M-CHAT.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Our previous cross-sectional investigation (Chetcuti et al., 2020) showed that infants with autism traits could be divided into distinct subgroups based on temperament. This longitudinal study builds on this existing work by exploring the continuity of temperament subgroup classifications and their associations with behavioral/clinical phenotypic features from infancy to toddlerhood. 103 infants (68% male) showing early signs of autism were referred to the study by community healthcare professionals and seen for assessments when aged around 12-months (Time 1), 18-months (Time 2), and 24-months (Time 3). Latent profile analysis revealed inhibited/low positive, active/negative reactive, and sociable/well-regulated subgroups at each timepoint, and a unique reactive/regulated subgroup at Time 3. Cross-tabulations indicated a significant likelihood of children having a recurrent subgroup classification from one timepoint to the next, and no apparent patterns to the movement of children who did change from one subgroup to another over time. Temperament subgroups were associated with concurrent child social-emotional functioning and autism traits, but unrelated to child age, sex, or developmental level. These findings suggest that temperament subgroup classifications might represent a reliable and very early indicator of autism characteristics and social-emotional functioning among infants/toddlers with autism traits.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023 · doi:10.1002/aur.2874