Brief report: Autistic traits in twins vs. non-twins-A preliminary study

Alexander Ho, Richard D. Todd, John N. Constantino

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that among affected sib pairs with autism there is an increase in the frequency of twins over what would be expected in comparison to the prevalence of twins in the general population. In this study we sought to determine whether sub-threshold autistic traits were more pronounced in twins than in non-twins. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) was administered in an epidemiologic twin sample (n=802) and in a separate population-based sample of non-twins ascertained from a local school district (n=255). For males (but not females), the mean SRS score was significantly higher among twins than among non-twins. As has been suggested for autism, twin status may incur increased liability to sub-threshold autistic symptomatology, particularly in males.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-133
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of autism and developmental disorders
Volume35
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2005

Keywords

  • Autism
  • PDD-NOS
  • Population Genetics
  • SRS
  • Twins

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Brief report: Autistic traits in twins vs. non-twins-A preliminary study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this