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Physiological Response to Social Evaluative Threat in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was employed to study response to social evaluative threat in male adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, n = 21) and typical development (n = 13). Participants wore a mobile electrocardiogram to collect heart rate data. There were significant group effects on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of parasympathetic nervous system function, with lower values in ASD (F = 4.97). Bivariate correlations also showed a significant relationship between parent reports of social problems and RSA response to the TSST (r = −0.586). These findings suggest that autonomic dysregulation may contribute to social deficits in adolescents with ASD.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the adolescents and their families who participated in this study. This manuscript was prepared from the first author’s doctoral dissertation.

Funding

This study was funded by NIMH R01 MH085717.

Author Contributions

EKE participated in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and drafting of the manuscript. RMJ participated in the analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the manuscript. BAC conceived of the study, particpated in the collection and interpretation of the data, and drafting of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, PMB 40, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    E. Kale Edmiston & Blythe A. Corbett

  2. Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 8310 MCE-South Tower, 1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA

    Robin M. Jones

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, PMB 40, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Blythe A. Corbett

Authors
  1. E. Kale Edmiston
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  2. Robin M. Jones
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  3. Blythe A. Corbett
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Blythe A. Corbett.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Edmiston, E.K., Jones, R.M. & Corbett, B.A. Physiological Response to Social Evaluative Threat in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 2992–3005 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2842-1

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