Assessment of temperament in children with autism spectrum disorders

Objectives: To explore the temperament and its correlates in children with autism spectrum disorders. Method: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan, from February 2015 to June 2016, and comprised children aged 5-11 years diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders selected from different institutes. A detailed demographic questionnaire, Temperament in Middle Childhood questionnaire and Childhood Behaviour questionnaire were administered through in-depth clinical interviews to collect information regarding temperament and significant demographic variables of the subjects. Results: Of the 92 subjects, there were 61(66%) boys and 31(34%) girls. Overall mean age was 8.62 +/- 1.87 years. The girls had relatively high scores on negative affectivity 19.54 +/- 5.14 (d=0.14) than boys. Whereas, boys scored comparatively higher on surgency 15.81 +/- 6.80 (d=0.21) and effortful control 13.69 +/- 3.72 (d=0.31) domains of temperament than girls. Negative affectivity shared significant inverse association with cognitive functioning r=-0.35 (p=0.01). However, surgency r=0.17 and effortful control domains r=0.34 (p=0.01)were positively associated with intellectual functioning. Conclusion: Children with autism spectrum disorders showed a temperament profile different from children following typical development.