The latent structure of cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals with autism, first-degree relatives and typical individuals

Grove, R; Baillie, A; Allison, C; Baron-Cohen, S; Hoekstra, RA

The latent structure of cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals with autism, first-degree relatives and typical individuals

Grove, R

Baillie, A Allison, C Baron-Cohen, S Hoekstra, RA

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Molecular Autism, 2014, 5 (1)
Issue Date:: 2014-08-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Grove, R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6669-9385	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Baillie, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Allison, C	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Baron-Cohen, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hoekstra, RA	en_US
dc.date.available	2014-07-21	en_US
dc.date.issued	2014-08-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Molecular Autism, 2014, 5 (1)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/132587
dc.description.abstract	© 2014 Grove et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: Empathy is a vital component for social understanding involving the ability to recognise emotion (cognitive empathy) and provide an appropriate affective response (emotional empathy). Autism spectrum conditions have been described as disorders of empathy. First-degree relatives may show some mild traits of the autism spectrum, the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Whether both cognitive and emotional empathy, rather than cognitive empathy alone, are impaired in autism and the BAP is still under debate. Moreover the association between various aspects of empathy is unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship between different components of empathy across individuals with varying levels of genetic vulnerability to autism. Methods. Factor analyses utilising questionnaire and performance-based task data were implemented among individuals with autism, parents of a child with autism and controls. The relationship between performance-based tasks and behavioural measures of empathy was also explored. Results: A four-factor model including cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, social skills and a performance-based factor fitted the data best irrespective of genetic vulnerability. Individuals with autism displayed impairment on all four factors, with parents showing intermediate difficulties. Performance-based measures of empathy were related in almost equal magnitude to cognitive and emotional empathy latent factors and the social skills factor. Conclusions: This study suggests individuals with autism have difficulties with multiple facets of empathy, while parents show intermediate impairments, providing evidence for a quantitative BAP. Impaired scores on performance-based measures of empathy, often thought to be pure measures of cognitive empathy, were also related to much wider empathy difficulties than impairments in cognitive empathy alone.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Molecular Autism	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1186/2040-2392-5-42	en_US
dc.title	The latent structure of cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals with autism, first-degree relatives and typical individuals	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.for	1103 Clinical Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	1109 Neurosciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Graduate School of Health
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	5	en_US

Abstract:

© 2014 Grove et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: Empathy is a vital component for social understanding involving the ability to recognise emotion (cognitive empathy) and provide an appropriate affective response (emotional empathy). Autism spectrum conditions have been described as disorders of empathy. First-degree relatives may show some mild traits of the autism spectrum, the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Whether both cognitive and emotional empathy, rather than cognitive empathy alone, are impaired in autism and the BAP is still under debate. Moreover the association between various aspects of empathy is unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship between different components of empathy across individuals with varying levels of genetic vulnerability to autism. Methods. Factor analyses utilising questionnaire and performance-based task data were implemented among individuals with autism, parents of a child with autism and controls. The relationship between performance-based tasks and behavioural measures of empathy was also explored. Results: A four-factor model including cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, social skills and a performance-based factor fitted the data best irrespective of genetic vulnerability. Individuals with autism displayed impairment on all four factors, with parents showing intermediate difficulties. Performance-based measures of empathy were related in almost equal magnitude to cognitive and emotional empathy latent factors and the social skills factor. Conclusions: This study suggests individuals with autism have difficulties with multiple facets of empathy, while parents show intermediate impairments, providing evidence for a quantitative BAP. Impaired scores on performance-based measures of empathy, often thought to be pure measures of cognitive empathy, were also related to much wider empathy difficulties than impairments in cognitive empathy alone.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/132587