Personality Characteristics and Neurocognitive Functions in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND: The increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in children and the huge family burdens have caused concern in the academic field as well as society. AIM: To study the personality characteristics and neurocognitive functions in the Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and compare them with the parents of well-developed children. METHOD: This study recruited 41 Chinese children who met the diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders-IV (DSM-IV). Their 79 biological parents were evaluated by means of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and a set of neuropsychological tests. The normal control group consisted of 80 parents of well-developed children, and they were matched by age and gender. RESULTS: We found that the EPQ scores in the P scale for parents of children with ASD were significantly higher than the parents of well-developed children (t=1.68, p=0.039), while their scores in E scale and L scale were significantly lower (t=1.84, p=0.035; t=2.07, p=0.023). We also identified that the parents of children with ASD took significantly longer time than the normal control to complete Trail Making Test (TMT) Part A and Part B-M (t=1.57, p=0.013; t=0.83, p=0.019). CONCLUSION: Compared to the parents of well-developed children, the parents of children with ASD were more likely to be unconcerned, rigid, stubborn, introverted, and reticent. They displayed less novelty and thrill-seeking behaviors, and had limited social skills and maturity. Although the general cognitive functions including IQ were relatively intact in the parents of children with ASD, there were impairments in their planning, flexibility and visual processing functions.