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Prevalence of autistic traits and their relationships with other psychopathological domains in young adults seeking psychiatric attention: a cluster analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2024

Benedetta Demartini
Affiliation:
Unità di Psichiatria 51-52, San Paolo Hospital, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy “Aldo Ravelli” Research Centre for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Gianmarco Ingrosso*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Francesca Serio
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Veronica Nisticò
Affiliation:
“Aldo Ravelli” Research Centre for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Giovanni Broglia
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Angelo Bertani
Affiliation:
Centro Giovani “Ettore Ponti”, Mental Health and Dependences Department, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy
Raffaella Faggioli
Affiliation:
Unità di Psichiatria 51-52, San Paolo Hospital, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy
Orsola Gambini
Affiliation:
Unità di Psichiatria 51-52, San Paolo Hospital, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy “Aldo Ravelli” Research Centre for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Gabriele Massimetti
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa 56127, Italy
Liliana Dell’Osso
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa 56127, Italy
Barbara Carpita
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa 56127, Italy
*
Corresponding author: Gianmarco Ingrosso; Email: gianmarco.ingrosso@unimi.it

Abstract

Background

Nearly two-thirds of individuals with a mental disorder start experiencing symptoms during adolescence or early adulthood, and the onset of a mental disorder during this critical life stage strongly predicts adverse socioeconomic and health outcomes. Subthreshold manifestations of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), also called autistic traits (ATs), are known to be associated with a higher vulnerability to the development of other psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to assess the presence of ATs in a population of young adults seeking specialist assistance and to evaluate the study population across various psychopathological domains in order to determine their links with ATs.

Methods

We recruited a sample of 263 adolescents and young adults referring to a specialized outpatient clinic, and we administered them several self-report questionnaires for the evaluation of various psychopathological domains. We conducted a cluster analysis based on the prevalence of ATs, empathy, and sensory sensitivity scores.

Results

The cluster analysis identified three distinct groups in the sample: an AT cluster (22.43%), an intermediate cluster (45.25%), and a no-AT cluster (32.32%). Moreover, subjects with higher ATs exhibited greater symptomatology across multiple domains, including mood, anxiety, eating disorder severity, psychotic symptoms, and personality traits such as detachment and vulnerable narcissism.

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance of identifying ATs in young individuals struggling with mental health concerns. Additionally, our findings underscore the necessity of adopting a dimensional approach to psychopathology to better understand the complex interplay of symptoms and facilitate tailored interventions.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
Figure 0

Table 1. Sociodemographic information

Figure 1

Figure 1. Z-score values of AQ, RAADS, EQ, and SPQ total scores in the three clusters.

Figure 2

Table 2. Dispersion analysis for cluster analysis based on AQ, RAADS-r, EQ, and SPQ-SF35 total scores

Figure 3

Table 3. Comparison of BDI-II and STAI, EAT-26, PQ-16, PID-5-BF, and PNI scores among cluster groups

Figure 4

Table 4. Summary of canonical discriminant functions for discriminant analysis

Figure 5

Figure 2. Discriminant analysis: group graphic.

Figure 6

Table 5. Structure matrix for discriminant analysis

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