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Brief Report: No Association Between Parental Age and Extreme Social-Communicative Autistic Traits in the General Population

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Abstract

This is the first investigation of the relationship between parental age and extreme social-communicative autistic traits in the general population. The parents of 5,246 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) completed the Social and Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC). The association between parental age and SCDC scores was assessed in the full sample and among high scoring individuals (e.g. top 5%, 1%). There was no association between parental age and social-communicative autistic traits in the general population. Neither maternal nor paternal age was associated with extreme scores. These findings suggest that advanced parental age does not confer increased risk for extreme social and communication impairment assessed quantitatively.

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Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to all the families who took part in this study, the midwives for their help in recruiting them, and the whole ALSPAC team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists and nurses. The authors specifically thank Drs. Jean Golding and Alan Emond for their helpful comments regarding this project. The UK Medical Research Council (74882), the Wellcome Trust (076467) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This publication is the work of the authors and Elise Robinson, who will serve as guarantors for the content of this paper. The research was specifically funded by a National Institute of Mental Health/NIH Research Fellowship in Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) at The Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School (MH71286) and the Training Program in Psychiatric Genetics and Translational Research at the Harvard School of Public Health (T32MH017119).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Simches Research Building, 185 Cambridge Street, 6th floor, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Elise B. Robinson & Susan L. Santangelo

  2. Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elise B. Robinson & Susan L. Santangelo

  3. Division of Developmental Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    Elise B. Robinson & Kerim Munir

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Kerim Munir & Susan L. Santangelo

  5. Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Marie C. McCormick

  6. Departments of Society, Human Development, and Health, and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Karestan C. Koenen

  7. Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Karestan C. Koenen

Authors
  1. Elise B. Robinson
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  2. Kerim Munir
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  3. Marie C. McCormick
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  4. Karestan C. Koenen
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  5. Susan L. Santangelo
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Correspondence to Elise B. Robinson.

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Robinson, E.B., Munir, K., McCormick, M.C. et al. Brief Report: No Association Between Parental Age and Extreme Social-Communicative Autistic Traits in the General Population. J Autism Dev Disord 41, 1733–1737 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1202-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1202-4

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