Negative first impression judgements of autistic children by non-autistic adults.

Introduction: Although autism inclusion and acceptance has increased in recent years, autistic people continue to face stigmatization, exclusion, and victimization. Based on brief 10-second videos, non-autistic adults rate autistic adults less favourably than they rate non-autistic adults in terms of traits and behavioural intentions. In the current study, we extended this paradigm to investigate the first impressions of autistic and non-autistic children by non-autistic adult raters and examined the relationship between the rater's own characteristics and bias against autistic children. Method: Segments of video recorded interviews from 15 autistic and 15 non-autistic children were shown to 346 undergraduate students in audio with video, audio only, video only, transcript, or still image conditions. Participants rated each child on a series of traits and behavioural intentions toward the child, and then completed a series of questionnaires measuring their own social competence, autistic traits, quantity and quality of past experiences with autistic people, and explicit autism stigma. Results: Overall, autistic children were rated more negatively than non-autistic children, particularly in conditions containing audio. Raters with higher social competence and explicit autism stigma rated autistic children more negatively, whereas raters with more autistic traits and more positive past experiences with autistic people rated autistic children more positively. Discussion: These rapid negative judgments may contribute to the social exclusion experienced by autistic children. The findings indicate that certain personal characteristics may be related to more stigmatised views of autism and decreased willingness to interact with the autistic person. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the social inclusion and well-being of autistic people.

Intergeneration transfer of diet patterns? Parental self-report of diet and their report of their young adult children with ASD.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects two percent of American children and often results in neophobia, hypersensitivity to foods, and firmly set food preferences, leading to higher proportions of individuals suffering from diet-related chronic diseases. Our objective was to conduct an explorative pilot study to examine parents' perception of food intake for themselves and their young adult children with ASD. We employed comparative analysis to discover potential pathways to improve diet quality and lower the risk for chronic disease in individuals with ASD. Data from an online survey in n = 493 parent-child dyads on parentally reported intake patterns, food group, and food consumption was analyzed using kappa statistics to determine the level of agreement between reported parental and child intake patterns, body weight status and activity level. Average age was 48 years for parents and 22 years for their children, respectively. Parent-child agreement for obesity was high. We found very strong agreement between the reported diet variety (kappa = 0.82) and changing daily intake (kappa = 0.63) and strong agreement for some vegetable intake patterns (kappa = 0.61 for orange, white, and starchy vegetables) but not in meat intake (no agreement). Results of this study indicate evidence for perceived intergenerational transfer of dietary intake patterns, which may offer effective approaches to change parental diet, to subsequently improve diet quality in young adults with ASD and prevent diet-related chronic diseases in individuals with ASD.

Determinants of physical activity of transitioning adult children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Many young adults on the autism spectrum do not attain the recommended minimum weekly amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to prevent significant health risks. Autism symptoms as well as environmental factors may play a key role in the physical activity (PA) behaviors of young adults on the autism spectrum. The socioecological model (SEM) has been previously used to identify determinants of PA among people within many disability categories. Aims: Explore the overall relationship between determinants of PA of MVPA among parents and their young adult child with ASD as well as MVPA determinants segmented by caregiver level of support. Methods: 336 parents of adult children with ASD completed the Determinants of Physical Activity and Eating Behaviors for Young Adults with ASD Scale. Results: Children's weekly time spent in MVPA was predicted by parent self-reported MVPA, exercise competency, video game use, social skills, and neighborhood qualities. Parent weekly time spent in MVPA was predicted by their child's weekly MVPA, parent exercise competency, parent discretionary time, available home exercise equipment, and parent attitude towards physical activity. Conclusion: These results support the administration of quality community-based motor development, motor skills, and exercise skills programs focused on increasing physical activity and parent's influential role in their children's weekly MVPA.

Interactions and implications of Fuzzy-Trace theory for risk taking behaviors in bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: According to Fuzzy-Trace Theory (FTT), qualitative, bottom-line, "gist" reasoning leads to less risk taking and more mature decision-making, less easily swayed by emotions than quantitative, detail-oriented, "verbatim" reasoning. In Bipolar disorder deleterious risky behaviors are common. Prior research confirmed the relationships posited between FTT and risk taking. We aim to understand whether FTT acts upon risk taking in the manner proposed in the FTT framework, namely, that (a) gist "values" mediate the role of "categorical gist". Furthermore, the roles of mania and impulsivity, cited as factors for risk-taking, remain to be clarified. In this study, we investigate if (b) manic symptoms and impulsivity moderate these relationships. METHODS: Participants (N = 105) completed an online survey including demographics, clinical variables, symptomatology, FTT, risk taking and risk perception. RESULTS: Mediational models indicated that (a) Gist Values mediated Categorical Gist's effect on risk taking, as expected by the FTT framework. (b) Impulsivity moderates risk taking, but manic-type symptomatology does not. LIMITATIONS: Voluntary, self-report surveys may have low participant motivation and limit the diagnostic validity and the inpatient generalizability of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The results move beyond a focus on mood-related aspects of Bipolar disorder and confirm the importance of understanding reasoning processes like FTT in combination with impulsivity, as potential behavioral factors of risk taking in Bipolar disorder. The clarifications on FTT's functioning as a mechanism prescribe possible openings for more efficacious reduction of risky behaviors through behavioral interventions focusing on value creation.

Decision-making and risk in bipolar disorder: A quantitative study using fuzzy trace theory.

OBJECTIVES: This study characterizes risk-taking behaviours in a group of people with a self-reported diagnosis of BD using fuzzy trace theory (FTT). FTT hypothesizes that risk-taking is a 'reasoned' (but sometimes faulty) action, rather than an impulsive act associated with mood fluctuations. DESIGN: We tested whether measures of FTT (verbatim and gist-based thinking) were predictive of risk-taking intentions in BD, after controlling for mood and impulsivity. We hypothesized that FTT scales would be significant predictors of risk-taking intentions even after accounting for mood and impulsivity. METHODS: Fifty-eight participants with BD (age range 21-78, 68% female) completed a series of online questionnaires assessing risk intentions, mood, impulsivity, and FTT. RESULTS: Fuzzy trace theory scales significantly predicted risk-taking intentions (medium effect sizes), after controlling for mood and impulsivity consistent with FTT (part range .26 to .49). Participants with BD did not show any statistically significant tendency towards verbatim-based thinking. CONCLUSIONS: Fuzzy trace theory gist and verbatim representations were both independent predictors of risk-taking intentions, even after controlling for mood and impulsivity. The results offer an innovative conceptualization of the mechanisms behind risk-taking in BD. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Risk-taking behaviour in bipolar disorder is not just a consequence of impulsivity. Measures of fuzzy trace theory help to understand risk-taking in bipolar disorder. FTT measures predict risk-taking intentions, after controlling for mood and impulsivity.

Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) for monitoring oxidative stress in critically ill patients: a simple, fast and inexpensive automated technique.

Oxidative stress is known to be involved in many human pathological processes. Although there are numerous methods available for the assessment of oxidative stress, most of them are still not easily applicable in a routine clinical laboratory due to the complex methodology and/or lack of automation. In research into human oxidative stress, the simplification and automation of techniques represent a key issue from a laboratory point of view at present. In 1996 a novel oxidative stress biomarker, referred to as advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), was detected in the plasma of chronic uremic patients. Here we describe in detail an automated version of the originally published microplate-based technique that we adapted for a Cobas Mira Plus clinical chemistry analyzer. AOPP reference values were measured in plasma samples from 266 apparently healthy volunteers (university students; 81 male and 185 female subjects) with a mean age of 21.3 years (range 18-33). Over a period of 18 months we determined AOPP concentrations in more than 300 patients in our department. Our experiences appear to demonstrate that this technique is especially suitable for monitoring oxidative stress in critically ill patients (sepsis, reperfusion injury, heart failure) even at daily intervals, since AOPP exhibited rapid responses in both directions. We believe that the well-established relationship between AOPP response and induced damage makes this simple, fast and inexpensive automated technique applicable in daily routine laboratory practice for assessing and monitoring oxidative stress in critically ill or other patients.