Relationship of Temperament Differences with Diagnosis, Severity and Accompanying Psychiatric Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Introduction: Temperament differences were shown in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however associations of temperament with ASD severity and accompanying psychiatric symptoms have yet to be studied. Methods: We evaluated 58 ASD-diagnosed children's temperaments through disorder severity and psychiatric symptoms and compared them with 58 typically developed children. We utilized the Children's Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used to evaluate psychiatric symptoms and ASD severity levels of children. Results: Negative affect, effortful control, and perceptual sensitivity were found lower in ASD-diagnosed children and decreased with ASD severity. Effortful control was also found negatively correlated with scores of behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and total difficulties. Besides, anger/ frustration was found predictive for conduct and peer problems, and total difficulty scores. Conclusion: Further studies are needed to verify and expand these pioneer findings.