Insistence on sameness and broader autism phenotype in simplex families with autism spectrum disorder.
Parent and child insistence on sameness only weakly track each other, so sharpen assessment before using the trait as a genetic marker.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents in 2,760 simplex autism families to fill out two short checklists. One measured the parent’s own need for sameness. The other rated the same trait in their child.
They then ran a correlation to see if parent and child scores moved together. The goal was to test whether "insistence on sameness" could serve as a genetic marker inside these families.
What they found
A weak but real link showed up. When parents scored high on sameness, their kids tended to as well, yet the match was small.
Because the signal was faint, the authors warn the scale needs sharper items before it can be used as a true endophenotype.
How this fits with other research
Antezana et al. (2019) extend this idea by showing girls with autism score higher on sameness items than boys. This gender split means you may need separate norms when you interpret the checklist.
Ferreri et al. (2011) and Lemons et al. (2015) are earlier parent-report validation studies. They proved parents can give trustworthy answers on brief autism and anxiety scales, paving the way for the BAPQ sameness sub-scale used here.
Duerden et al. (2012) link sameness to self-injury risk. Taken together, the trait is not just a genetic curiosity; it flags real clinical concerns that may need safety planning.
Why it matters
For you, the weak parent-child match means one checklist is not enough. Pair the BAPQ sameness items with direct child observation and teacher reports. Note the child’s gender when you set benchmarks, and keep an eye on self-injury if sameness scores climb.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Insistence on sameness (IS) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families may have utility in identifying meaningful subgroups for studying the pathophysiological and genetic pathways affected in ASD. The primary objectives of the current study were to (1) characterize features of IS in parents of children with ASD and (2) examine their relationships with child IS symptoms. Participants were 2760 families who participated in the Simons Simplex Collection. Levels of parent IS were measured using the Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ). A factor analysis generated a BAPQ-IS scale, consisting of a subset of 11 items from the original BAPQ-Rigid scale. Correlations were run to examine the relationship between parent BAP and child IS variables. Correlations were found between parent IS and measures of child IS. Although relationships between parent and child IS features were statistically significant in this large sample, effect sizes were small. Results may be reflective of sample design that only included simplex families, where ASD severity may be predominantly driven by spontaneous mutations and less by common inherited risk from parents. In addition, child and parent measures used may have differentially captured features and severity of IS. Further research is needed on how IS can be accurately measured throughout development and across individuals with ASD and their unaffected family members to facilitate future studies on IS as a possible endophenotype for ASD. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1253-1263. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Previous research has suggested that insistence on sameness (IS) may be a heritable trait in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study examined whether children with high levels of IS had parents with IS tendencies. A small relationship was found between parent and child measures of IS. Future research is needed on measurement of insistence on sameness across individuals with and without ASD to further examine this relationship and improve understanding of the genetics of ASD.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.1975