Twenty-four-month effortful control predicts emerging autism characteristics

Longitudinal research can assess how diverging development of multiple cognitive skills during infancy, as well as familial background, are related to the emergence of neurodevelopmental conditions. Sensorimotor and effortful control difficulties are seen in infants later diagnosed with autism; this study explored the relationships between these skills and autism characteristics in 340 infants (240 with elevated familial autism likelihood) assessed at 4–7, 8–10, 12–15, 24, and 36 months. We tested: (1) the relationship between parent-reported effortful control (Rothbart's temperament questionnaires) and sensorimotor skills (Mullen Scales of Early Learning), using random intercept cross-lagged panel modelling; (2) whether household income and maternal education predicted stable individual differences in cognition; (3) sensorimotor and effortful control skills as individual and interactive predictors of parent-reported autism characteristics (Social Responsiveness Scale) at 3 years, using multiple regression; and (4) moderation of interactions by familial likelihood. Sensorimotor skills were longitudinally associated with effortful control at the subsequent measurement point from 12–15 months. Socioeconomic status indicators did not predict stable between-infant differences in sensorimotor or effortful control skills. Effortful control skills were longitudinally related to 3-year autism characteristics from the first year of life, with evidence for an interaction with sensorimotor skills at 24 months. Effects of effortful control increased with age and were particularly important for infants with family histories of autism. Results are discussed in relation to different theoretical frameworks: Developmental Cascades and Anterior Modifiers in the Emergence of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. We suggest a role for 24-month effortful control in explaining the emergent autism phenotype.

Research Highlights

• Sensorimotor skills longitudinally predicted effortful control from 12–15 months onward but effortful control did not longitudinally predict sensorimotor skills during infancy.
• Measures of effortful control skills taken before the age of 1 predicted continuous variation in autism characteristics at 36 months, with associations increasing in strength with age.
• Effortful control (measured at 12–15 and 24 months) was a stronger predictor of 36-month autism characteristics in infants with elevated familial likelihood for autism.
• The relationship between 24-month sensorimotor skills and 36-month autism characteristics was stronger in infants with weaker effortful control skills.