First-degree relatives of young children with autism spectrum disorders: some gender aspects.
Autism rarely travels alone—expect more autism, depression, and anxiety in parents and siblings, especially when the diagnosed child is a girl.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Eriksson et al. (2012) looked at moms, dads, and brothers and sisters of preschoolers with autism.
They wanted to know how many of these relatives also had autism, depression, or other mental-health diagnoses.
The team compared these families to the general public and paid special attention to gender patterns.
What they found
Relatives of children with autism carried more autism, mood, and psychiatric diagnoses than typical families.
Gender mattered: girls with autism often had more affected relatives than boys with autism.
Several prenatal factors also showed up more often in these families.
How this fits with other research
Porter et al. (2008) saw the same heavy psychiatric load years earlier, reporting 77% anxiety and 35% mood disorders in relatives.
Fairthorne et al. (2016) extended the picture by showing mothers can develop brand-new depression or anxiety after their child’s autism diagnosis, not just carry old ones.
Capio et al. (2013) seemed to disagree at first glance: they found no overall rise in sibling anxiety. But when they split the data by sex and age, middle-school boys with autism brothers or sisters did show extra worry, matching Anders’s gender angle.
Why it matters
When you assess a preschooler with autism, zoom out. Ask about mom’s mood, dad’s attention, and how the sibling is sleeping. Use quick parent and sibling screens for depression, anxiety, and broader autism traits. Catching these issues early lets you refer families to the right help, reduce home stress, and free up energy for the child’s therapy goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Prenatal risk factors, with special focus on gender distribution of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions were analysed in first-degree relatives in a population-based group of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Multiple information sources were combined. This group was contrasted with the general population regarding data from the Swedish Medical Birth register. In the ASD group, information was also obtained at parental interviews focusing on developmental and psychiatric disorders in the family. Compared to the general population, fathers of children with ASD were older and parents more often of non-European origin. Mothers of children with ASD had an increased rate of antidepressant and psychoactive medication use, and of scheduled caesarean sections. Fathers and brothers of children with ASD had high rates of ASD including the broader phenotype. Mothers of children with ASD had high rates of depression and other psychiatric disorders. These findings, hypothetically, could reflect a different ASD phenotype and difficulties diagnosing ASD in females or be an example of the close genetic relation between ASD and other psychiatric disorders. The results suggest that, in clinical and research settings, the familial background in ASD should be reviewed with a broader approach, and not be restricted to "looking out" only for diagnoses and symptoms traditionally accepted as being part of or typical of ASD. The high rate of parents of non-European origin has been noted in many Swedish studies of ASD, but the reason for this association, remains unclear.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.03.025