ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
Emotional and behavioral problems in Japanese preschool children with subthreshold autistic traits: findings from a community-based sample.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stage-Specific Animate Attention Bias in Individuals with High and Low Autistic Traits: Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Evidence.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Autism traits and mental well-being: the mediating role of social camouflaging and the moderating role of social exclusion and public stigma.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Associations Between Social Functioning and Indicators of University Student Engagement.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Subthreshold Autism and ADHD: A Brief Narrative Review for Frontline Clinicians.Pediatric reports · 2025Review
- Investigation of the effectiveness of parent-child interaction therapy on adjustment and behavioral problems in children with subthreshold autism.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Autism symptoms, functional impairments, and gaze fixation measured using an eye-tracker in 6-year-old children.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecently, there has been a growing recognition that autistic traits exist along a continuum beyond diagnostic categories and that even subclinical symptoms may be associated with an increased risk for the psychosocial well-being and mental health of children. However, as yet, there has been little research on whether preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD, are more likely to experience difficulties. To address this deficit this study examined whether young children with subthreshold autistic traits have an increased risk for emotional/behavioral difficulties.
methodsData were analyzed from 1057 Japanese preschool children aged 5-years old collected during the first wave of the Tama Children's Survey (TCS) cohort study. Parent-reported autistic traits were assessed with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), while they provided information on their child's emotional/behavioral problems using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations.
resultsPreschool children with mild-to-moderate autistic traits, corresponding to subclinical autism were significantly more likely to score above the clinical thresholds for emotional/behavioral problems compared to children with fewer autistic traits. Follow-up diagnostic assessments and analyses of 72 children from the cohort confirmed these findings and showed that these children with subthreshold autistic traits also had a significantly lower intelligence quotient (IQ) as measured by the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI).
conclusionsAlthough subthreshold autistic traits are difficult to define due to the sometimes vague border between typical and atypical development, there may be a large number of preschool children with subthreshold autistic traits, who may have an increased risk for a variety of different emotional/behavioral difficulties as well as lower cognitive functioning.
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