Personality traits in parents of people with autism

Objectives: This study set out to explore if there were measurable personal ity characteristics specific to parents of people with autism. Method: Parents of 12 people with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of autism presented for the study. Each of the people with autism were matched where possible with a counterpart without autism but with a lifelong disability on paramet ers of age, sex and IQ level. Parents of the 'autism' and 'non-autism' grou ps were then interviewed in detail using four personality assessment instru ments. Scores were tabulated for both mothers and fathers in each group and intergroup comparisons were made. Results: No significant personality profile difference was identifiable bet ween the two parental groups. Conclusions: Personality traits specific to parents of people with autism a re not identifiable in this study thus casting doubt on the validity of per sonality phenotypes as measurable heritability factors in autism.