Tag: psychological tests

A Quantifiable Model to Explain the Development of Autism

Children
Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

An explanatory model presented in a thesis from University of Gothenburg may make simplify the understanding of autism development. It provides new insights into how various risk factors give rise to autism and why there is such great variability between individuals.

Autism, a neurodevelopmental condition, affects how people perceive the world around them and how they interact and communicate with others. Among individuals with autism, there are major differences in terms of personal traits and manifestations alike. The disorder is therefore usually described as a spectrum, with numerous subtle variations.

While theoretical, the new explanatory model is also practical in application, since its various components are quantifiable through testing. The model describes various contributing factors and how they combine to prompt an autism diagnosis and cause other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Three contributing factors

The model links three contributing factors. Together, these result in a pattern of behaviour that meets the criteria for an autism diagnosis:

  1. Autistic personality – hereditary common genetic variants that give rise to an autistic personality.
  2. Cognitive compensation – intelligence and executive functions, such as the capacity to learn, understand others, and adapt to social interactions.
  3. Exposure to risk factors – for example, harmful genetic variants, infections, and other random events during gestation and early childhood that adversely affect cognitive ability.

“The autistic personality is associated with both strengths and difficulties in cognition but does not, as such, mean that diagnostic criteria are fulfilled. Still, exposure to risk factors that inhibit people’s cognitive ability may affect their capacity to tackle difficulties, which contributes to individuals being diagnosed with autism,” says Darko Sarovic, physician and postdoctoral researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, who wrote the thesis.

The model makes it clear that it is the many different risk factors combined that bring about the major differences among individuals on the spectrum. The various components of the model are supported by results from previous research.

Adaptive ability

High executive functioning skills may let people cover up their impairment, reducing their risk of meeting the diagnostic criteria for autism. This may explain why a lower degree of intelligence is observed among people diagnosed with autism, as well as other neurodevelopmental conditions. It also affords an understanding of why intellectual disability is more common among these groups. Thus, the model indicates that low cognitive ability is not part of the autistic personality but, rather, a risk factor that leads to diagnostic criteria being met.

“The autistic personality is associated with various strengths. For example, parents of children with autism are overrepresented among engineers and mathematicians. The parents themselves have probably been able to compensate for their own autistic personality traits and thus not met the criteria for an autism diagnosis. The impact of the disorder has then become more noticeable in their children owing, for instance, to an exposure to risk factors and relatively low cognitive ability,” Sarovic says.

Gender differences affect diagnosis

The diagnosis of autism is more common among boys than girls, and girls often get their diagnosis later in life. Some girls reach adulthood before being diagnosed, after many years of diffuse personal difficulties.

“Girls’ symptoms are often less evident to other people. It’s well known that girls generally have more advanced social skills, which probably means that they’re better at compensating for their own difficulties. Girls also tend to have fewer autistic traits and be less susceptible to the effects of risk factors. Accordingly, the model can help to answer questions about the gender gap,” Sarovic says.

Research and diagnostics

The model also proposes ways of estimating and measuring the three factors, enabling use of the model in research studies. Diagnostics is another conceivable area of ​​use. In a pilot study in which 24 participants had been diagnosed with autism and 22 controls had not, measuring the three factors of the model enabled more than 93% to be correctly assigned to the right category. The model can also be used to explain the inception of other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia.

Source: University of Gothenburg

Can Seven Questions Measure Wisdom and Resilience?

Photo by Natasha Brazil on Unsplash

In a new study published in International Psychogeriatrics, researchers report that a shortened, seven-item scale can help determine a person’s level of wisdom, a potentially modifiable personality trait shown to be strongly associated with well-being.

Previously, the researchers had developed the 28-item San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE-28), which has been used in large national and international studies, biological research and clinical trials to evaluate wisdom.

But researchers found that an abbreviated seven-item version (SD-WISE-7 or Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index), was comparable and reliable.

“Wisdom measures are increasingly being used to study factors that impact mental health and optimal aging. We wanted to test if a list of only seven items could provide valuable information to test wisdom,” said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD.

Past studies have shown that wisdom is comprised of seven components: self-reflection, pro-social behaviours (such as empathy, compassion and altruism), emotional regulation, acceptance of diverse perspectives, decisiveness, social advising (such as giving rational and helpful advice to others) and spirituality.

The latest study surveyed 2093 participants online, ages 20 to 82. The seven statements, selected from SD-WISE-28, relate to the seven components of wisdom and are rated on a 1 to 5 scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of the statements include “I remain calm under pressure” and “I avoid situations where I know my help will be needed.”

“Shorter doesn’t mean less valid,” said Dr Jeste. “We selected the right type of questions to get important information that not only contributes to the advancement of science but also supports our previous data that wisdom correlates with health and longevity.”  

In addition, the SD-WISE-7 was found to strongly and positively correlate with resilience, happiness and mental well-being and strongly and negatively correlate with loneliness, depression and anxiety.

“There are evidence-based interventions to increase levels of specific components of wisdom, which would help reduce loneliness and promote overall well-being,” said Dr Jeste.

“Like the COVID vaccine protects us from the novel coronavirus, wisdom can aid in protecting us from loneliness. Thus, we can potentially help end a behavioural pandemic of loneliness, suicides and opioid abuse that has been going on for the last 20 years.”

Next steps include genetic, biological, psychosocial and cultural studies of large numbers of diverse populations to assess wisdom, as well as various factors related to mental, physical and cognitive health in people across the lifespan.

“We need wisdom for surviving and thriving in life. Now, we have a list of questions that take less than a couple of minutes to answer that can be put into clinical practice to try to help individuals,” said Dr Jeste. 

Source: University of California San Diego School of Medicine