Neurocognitive Profiles in Parents of Autistic Children and Parents of Children with Anorexia Nervosa.
Autism and anorexia share thinking-style markers in parents—check for both when either is suspected.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Neville-Jones et al. (2025) compared parents of autistic kids with parents of kids who have anorexia nervosa.
They gave both groups short paper-and-pen tests for imagination, flexible thinking, and eating-disorder traits.
The goal was to see if autism and anorexia leave similar brain-style footprints in moms and dads.
What they found
Autism parents scored lower on imagination tasks.
Anorexia parents scored higher on flexible thinking, not lower.
Parents who reported more eating-disorder traits also did worse on autism-linked thinking tests.
How this fits with other research
Mulder et al. (2020) already showed that moms of autistic kids with an eating-disorder history act extra rigid on the BAP-Q. The new study adds dad data and shows the same overlap lives in quick lab games, not just questionnaires.
Postorino et al. (2017) looked at teens with anorexia and found almost none met autism cut-offs. That sounds like a clash, but they studied sick teens; Rosemary studied the parents. The traits may skip a generation or hide until adulthood.
Gurbuz Ozgur et al. (2025) found that moms who obsess over “clean eating” have autistic kids with worse food refusal. Together the papers build a chain: parent eating style → parent neurocognitive profile → child feeding behavior.
Why it matters
If a parent mentions past eating issues, flag it. Their thinking style could shape how they attend to your therapy instructions and how the child approaches food. A quick imagination or flexibility probe can tell you whether to slow the pace, add visuals, or bring in another caregiver.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is growing evidence to suggest an overlap between autism spectrum disorder (autism) and anorexia nervosa (AN), both of which are known to be highly heritable conditions. The aim of this study was to explore overlapping behavioural and clinical characteristics, and neurocognitive profiles related to the autism dyad of symptoms among parents. Parents of autistic children, parents of children with AN, and parents of typically developing children completed a battery of behavioural questionnaires and neurocognitive tasks related to social cognition and cognitive flexibility. Parents of autistic children reported significantly more difficulties on imaginative abilities compared to the other two parent groups. Parents of children with AN had superior performance on cognitive flexibility tasks. As expected, and in support of an overlap between the two conditions, increased eating disorder psychopathology was associated with poorer performance on neurocognitive tasks related to the autism dyad. Understanding the overlap between AN and autism has important implications for accurate development of risk profiles, diagnosis, as well as treatment. This is critical as those with overlapping traits of autism and AN have poorer treatment outcomes and are at higher risk of the damaging physical health consequences of AN.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08050775