title: Broad autism phenotype features of Chinese parents with autistic children and their associations with severity of social impairment in probands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parents of children with autism have higher rates of broad autism phenotype (BAP) features than parents of typically developing children (TDC) in Western countries. This study was designed to examine the rate of BAP features in parents of children with autism and the relationship between parental BAP and the social impairment of their children in a Chinese sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 299 families with autistic children and 274 families with TDC participated in this study. Parents were assessed using the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ), which includes self-report, informant-report, and best-estimate versions. Children were assessed using the Chinese version of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents of children with autism were significantly more likely to have BAP features than were parents of TDC; mothers and fathers in families with autistic children had various BAP features. The total scores of the informant and best-estimate BAPQ versions for fathers were significantly associated with their children's SRS total scores in the autism group, whereas the total scores of the three BAPQ versions for mothers were significantly associated with their children's SRS total scores in the TDC group. In the autism group, the total SRS scores of children with "BAP present" parents (informant and best-estimate) were higher than the total SRS scores of children with"BAP absent" parents. In the TDC group, the total SRS scores of children with "BAP present" parents were higher than the total SRS scores of children with"BAP absent" parents (best-estimate).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents of autistic children were found to have higher rates of BAP than parents of TDC in a sample of Chinese parents. The BAP features of parents are associated with their children's social functioning in both autism families and TDC families, but the patterns of the associations are different.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. zijuanwd@163.com.
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. oujianjun08@163.com.
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. yefenhua@126.com.|Traditional Chinese Medicine University of Hunan, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. yefenhua@126.com.
authors.forename: Jing-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. yarmine@foxmail.com.|Department of Neuroscience, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, PR China. yarmine@foxmail.com.
authors.forename: Su-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. taoyoyo1977@yeah.net.|Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Hangzhou, PR China. taoyoyo1977@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Yuan-Yue
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. zhufurong1985@126.com.
authors.forename: Fu-Rong
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, 191 Portsmouth Ave, Kingston, ON, K7M 8A6, Canada. liux@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Xu-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. zhaojingpinghunan@163.com.
authors.forename: Jing-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, The Central South University, 139 Middle Renmin Road, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. luoxr@vip.sina.com.
authors.forename: Xue-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010641:Phenotype; D010808:Physical Examination; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires