Alexithymia Trait Severity, not Autistic Trait Severity, Influences Caregiver Reactions to Autistic Children’s Negative Emotions

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Introduction: Alexithymia, defined as difficulty recognizing and describing one’s own and others’ emotions, frequently co-occurs with Autism (Trevisan et al., 2016). Caregivers’ reactions to their child’s emotions can influence how their child learns to cope with their own emotions (Fabes et al., 2002). Previous research has found that parents of autistic children reported greater supportive, and significantly less non-supportive, responses to their child’s anger and fear compared to non-autistic children (Bougher-Muckian et al., 2016). Autistic children with alexithymia need caregivers’ support to help regulate and control emotions, so it follows that these caregivers will be supportive in response to their child’s negative emotions. We investigated how alexithymia and autism influence caregivers’ reactions to their child’s negative emotions. We hypothesized that autistic children would exhibit higher alexithymia and autistic traits, and that caregivers of autistic children would report greater supportive, and less restrictive/controlling, parental reactions to their child’s negative emotions, particularly when their child had higher alexithymia and autistic traits.
Methods: Caregivers of 54 autistic (m-age=10.01, SD=1.85; 39 boys) and 51 non-autistic children (m-age=9.40, SD=1.58; 38 boys) participated. Caregivers completed the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES; Fabes et al., 1990). The CCNES yields six subscales from six 12-question vignettes. Three subscales reflect supportive parental reactions: Expressive Encouragement (EE), Emotion-Focused Reactions (EF), and Problem-Focused Reactions (PF). Three subscales reflect restrictive/controlling parental reactions: Minimization Reactions (MR), Punitive Reactions (PR), and Distress Reactions (DR). Caregivers also completed the Children’s Alexithymia Measure (CAM; Way et al., 2010), and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ; Auyeung et al., 2008) to assess their child’s alexithymia and autistic traits, respectively. Children completed the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, Second Edition (WASI-II; Wechsler, 2011).
Results: Independent samples t-tests on all variables found that autistic children had significantly higher AQ (t(103)= -11.059, p≤.001) and CAM (t(103)= -5.065, p≤.001) total scores than non-autistic children. Positive correlations between alexithymia traits and supportive subscales of the CCNES: EE (r(52)=.313, p=.021), EF (r(52)=.448, p≤.001), and PF (r(52)=.551, p≤.001), and negative correlations between alexithymia traits and the restrictive/controlling subscales of the CCNES: DR (r(52)= -.391, p=.003), PR (r(52)= -.457, p≤.001), and MR (r(52)= -.460, p≤.001), were found for autistic children. Autistic traits were significantly correlated with alexithymia traits for non-autistic children (r(49)= -.562, p≤.001). Alexithymia traits were not significantly correlated with caregiver reports on CCNES subscales in non-autistic children. The CCNES subscales were not significantly correlated to autistic traits in either group.
Conclusion: Consistent with the hypotheses, caregivers of autistic children reported greater supportive reactions, and fewer controlling/restrictive reactions, to their child’s negative emotions when their child has more alexithymia traits. Caregiver reactions were not significantly related to their child’s severity of autistic traits in either group. These findings suggest that caregivers of autistic children with more alexithymia traits may exhibit a greater understanding of positive parenting practices and a better understanding of their child’s challenges with coping with their emotions, and in turn, tend to react with more support and less frustration (Bougher-Muckian et al., 2016). Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Troy Q Boucher, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author

• Cassia L McIntyre, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nichole E Scheerer, Western University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mandeep Kaur Gurm, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Grace Iarocci, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author