Distribution of autistic traits and their association with sociodemographic characteristics in Japanese workers.
Autistic traits in Japanese workers follow a normal curve, with males and lower-SES employees scoring slightly higher.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Suzuki et al. (2018) gave the short Autism-Spectrum Quotient to Japanese workers.
They wanted to see how autistic traits spread across a typical adult workforce.
The team also checked if sex, job level, or pay linked to higher or lower scores.
What they found
Autistic traits formed a smooth, normal curve across the workers.
Men scored higher than women on most subscales.
Workers with lower income or education also scored higher, except on the numbers-patterns subscale.
How this fits with other research
Wakabayashi et al. (2006) first showed the AQ works in Japan; Tomoko confirms the short form behaves the same way.
Kunihira et al. (2006) linked AQ scores to personality traits in non-autistic adults; Tomoko adds that job status and pay matter too.
Low et al. (2024) found Malaysian students with high AQ scores feel more stress; Tomoko’s worker sample shows the traits are common but says nothing about stress, so the two studies fit side by side.
Kocher et al. (2015) found no brain-structure link to traits; Tomoko’s social-status link keeps the debate open—traits show up in surveys, not in scans.
Why it matters
You can expect autistic traits to sit on a bell curve in most adult settings.
If a client discloses a “high” AQ score, remember that sex and income can nudge the number.
Use the short AQ as a quick screen, but pair it with job-context questions before you plan supports.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study aimed to confirm whether autistic traits are normally distributed across a population and to describe their association with the sociodemographic characteristics of Japanese workers. The participants were 2075 workers aged 23-65 years from various parts of Japan. Autistic traits were measured using an abridged Japanese version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-Short). The AQ-Short comprises five subcomponents assessing a fascination for numbers and patterns (numbers/patterns), difficulties with imagination, a preference for routine, difficulties with social skills, and difficulties with switching attention. The five subcomponents of the autistic phenotype as well as the overall autistic phenotype itself were continuously distributed across the sample population of Japanese workers. Men had significantly higher AQ-Short scores than women. AQ-Short scores were not associated with age. Except for the numbers/patterns scores, workers of a lower socioeconomic status had significantly higher AQ-Short scores than their respective counterparts. For the numbers/patterns trait, workers of a higher socioeconomic status scored higher. Workers with low general physical activity had or tended to have higher scores for total and all subcomponent traits, except for the numbers/patterns trait. Generally, the autistic phenotype was more prevalent in workers of a low socioeconomic status, while a particular trait was prevalent among workers of a high socioeconomic status.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361317716605