Physiologic Arousal to Social Stress in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Study.

Little is known about arousal to socially stressful situations in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This preliminary study investigates physiologic arousal in children with high functioning autism (HFA, n=19) compared to a comparison group (n=11) before, during, and after the Trier Social Stress Test. The HFA group was more likely to have a decrease in salivary cortisol following the stressor, while the comparison group was more likely to have an increase (p=.02). However, there was no difference in electrodermal activity, a measure of sympathetic arousal, or vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic activity, between groups. These findings implicate a differential neuroendocrine response to social stress in children with HFA despite similar sympathetic and parasympathetic responses during a stressor. Further studies are required to substantiate this finding.

[1]  D. Jessop,et al.  Measurement and meaning of salivary cortisol: A focus on health and disease in children , 2008, Stress.

[2]  A. Gillott,et al.  Anxiety in High-Functioning Children with Autism , 2001, Autism : the international journal of research and practice.

[3]  B. Corbett,et al.  Variable cortisol circadian rhythms in children with autism and anticipatory stress. , 2008, Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN.

[4]  R. Schultz.  Developmental deficits in social perception in autism: the role of the amygdala and fusiform face area , 2005, International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience.

[5]  L. Price,et al.  Decreased Adrenocorticotropic Hormone and Cortisol Responses to Stress in Healthy Adults Reporting Significant Childhood Maltreatment , 2007, Biological Psychiatry.

[6]  F. Abell,et al.  An experimental investigation of the phenomenology of delusional beliefs in people with Asperger syndrome , 2005, Autism : the international journal of research and practice.

[7]  M. Losh,et al.  Understanding of emotional experience in autism: insights from the personal accounts of high-functioning children with autism. , 2006, Developmental psychology.

[8]  John O. Willis,et al.  Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence , 2014 .

[9]  M. Gunnar,et al.  Stressor paradigms in developmental studies: What does and does not work to produce mean increases in salivary cortisol , 2009, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[10]  J. Constantino,et al.  Validation of a Brief Quantitative Measure of Autistic Traits: Comparison of the Social Responsiveness Scale with the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised , 2003, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[11]  B. Corbett,et al.  Cortisol circadian rhythms and response to stress in children with autism , 2006, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[12]  S. Mostofsky,et al.  Normal Physiological Emotions but Differences in Expression of Conscious Feelings in Children with High-Functioning Autism , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[13]  B. Corbett,et al.  Elevated cortisol during play is associated with age and social engagement in children with autism , 2010, Molecular autism.

[14]  Daniel P. Kennedy,et al.  The intrinsic functional organization of the brain is altered in autism , 2008, NeuroImage.

[15]  S. Porges.  The polyvagal theory: phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. , 2001, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[16]  H. Engeland,et al.  Differentiation between Autism and Multiple Complex Developmental Disorder in Response to Psychosocial Stress , 2003, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[17]  Xue Ming,et al.  Reduced cardiac parasympathetic activity in children with autism , 2005, Brain and Development.

[18]  H. Engeland.  The electrodermal orienting response to auditive stimuli in autistic children, normal children, mentally retarded children, and child psychiatric patients , 1984 .

[19]  U. Frith,et al.  Brief Report: Cognitive Processing of Own Emotions in Individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and in Their Relatives , 2004, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[20]  K. Roelofs,et al.  Diminished cortisol responses to psychosocial stress associated with lifetime adverse events A study among healthy young subjects , 2008, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[21]  R. Palkovitz,et al.  Differential autonomic responses of autistic and normal children , 1980, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[22]  R. Nida,et al.  Effectiveness of a Manualized Summer Social Treatment Program for High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2008, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[23]  B. Leventhal,et al.  The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Generic: A Standard Measure of Social and Communication Deficits Associated with the Spectrum of Autism , 2000, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[24]  Anneli Kylliäinen,et al.  Skin Conductance Responses to Another Person’s Gaze in Children with Autism , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[25]  L. Lagasse,et al.  Prenatal cocaine exposure related to cortisol stress reactivity in 11-year-old children. , 2010, Jornal de Pediatria.

[26]  M. Toichi,et al.  Paradoxical Autonomic Response to Mental Tasks in Autism , 2003, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[27]  B. Corbett,et al.  Comparing cortisol, stress, and sensory sensitivity in children with autism , 2009, Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research.

[28]  A. Bailey,et al.  Autism: The Phenotype in Relatives , 1998, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[29]  V. Ramachandran,et al.  Autonomic responses of autistic children to people and objects , 2001, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[30]  Wolfgang Rauh,et al.  Attenuated Free Cortisol Response to Psychosocial Stress in Children with Atopic Dermatitis , 1997, Psychosomatic medicine.

[31]  R. Nida,et al.  Effect of Social Familiarity on Salivary Cortisol and Self-Reports of Social Anxiety and Stress in Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2008, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[32]  J. Long,et al.  Developmental changes in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal activity over the transition to adolescence: Normative changes and associations with puberty , 2009, Development and Psychopathology.

[33]  S. Bryson,et al.  The familial aggregation of the lesser variant in biological and nonbiological relatives of PDD probands: a family history study. , 2000, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[34]  F. Zitman,et al.  Effects of childhood trauma on HPA-axis reactivity in women free of lifetime psychopathology , 2009, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.