BACKGROUND Preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties in handling social stress and utilizing efficient emotion regulation (ER) strategies to manage high arousal. While researchers called to assess ER in ASD, few studies utilized direct observations. We tested children's behavioral and cortisol response to maternal and paternal unavailability and hypothesized that children with ASD will employ less complex ER strategies and their parents would show increased regulation facilitation effort to accommodate their child's difficulties. METHODS Forty preschoolers with ASD were matched with 40 typically developing (TD) preschoolers. Children were seen twice for identical battery with mother or father in the face-to-face-still-face paradigm, a three-episode paradigm where parent-child play (free play (FP)) is interrupted by elimination of communication (still face (SF)) followed by resuming play (reunion (RE)). Micro-coding of parent and child's social behavior and ER strategies was conducted. Parent and child's cortisol was assessed at baseline, following stress, and at recovery. RESULTS Children with ASD exhibited the typical SF effect, indexed by an increase in negative affect and decrease in positive communications, but employed more simple regulatory behavior (self-soothing, proximity-seeking) and less complex strategies involving attention redirection and substitutive play. Their parents used more regulation-facilitation behavior, both simple and complex. All children showed initial cortisol response to novelty, which declined over time. However, maternal presence suppressed initial cortisol response in children with ASD. CONCLUSIONS Children with ASD form typical expectations of parental availability and their parents increase effort to help repair social rupture. Among children with ASD, maternal presence and regulation facilitation provide social buffering for the child's HPA stress response in a manner similar to mammalian neonates. Results highlight the importance of assessing ER by combining direct observations and physiological measures and including fathers in empirical studies and intervention efforts for children with ASD during sensitive periods for social growth.

中文翻译：

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患有自闭症谱系障碍的学龄前儿童与母亲和父亲相互作用的对社会破裂和修复的神经内分泌和行为反应。

背景技术患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的学龄前儿童在处理社会压力和利用有效的情绪调节（ER）策略来管理高唤醒方面表现出困难。尽管研究人员呼吁评估ASD中的ER，但很少有研究利用直接观察。我们测试了儿童对母体和父亲无法获得的行为和皮质醇的反应，并假设ASD儿童将采用较不复杂的ER策略，而其父母将表现出更大的监管促进力度以适应其子女的困难。方法将40名患有ASD的学龄前儿童与40名典型的发展中（TD）学龄前儿童进行配对。在面对面的静态范例中，孩子两次被视为与母亲或父亲具有相同的电池，一个三集的范例，其中父子游戏（自由游戏（FP））被消除交流（静止的脸（SF））而中断，然后恢复了游戏（团聚（RE））而中断。对父母和孩子的社会行为和ER策略进行了微编码。在基线，压力后和恢复时评估父母和孩子的皮质醇。结果ASD儿童表现出典型的SF效应，以负面影响的增加和正向沟通的减少为指标，但采用更简单的调节行为（自我安慰，接近寻求）和较不复杂的策略，包括注意力转移和替代游戏。他们的父母使用了更多的简单和复杂的监管促进行为。所有儿童均对新奇表现出最初的皮质醇反应，但随着时间的推移而下降。然而，母体的存在抑制了ASD儿童的初始皮质醇反应。结论自闭症儿童对父母的可获得性有典型的期望，他们的父母会加大努力来修复社会破裂。在患有ASD的儿童中，母体的存在和调节便利性以类似于哺乳动物新生儿的方式为儿童的HPA应激反应提供了社会缓冲。结果凸显了通过结合直接观察和生理指标以及在社会发展敏感时期对ASD儿童进行实证研究和干预工作中包括父亲在内来评估ER的重要性。在患有ASD的儿童中，母体的存在和调节便利性以类似于哺乳动物新生儿的方式为儿童的HPA应激反应提供了社会缓冲。结果凸显了通过结合直接观察和生理指标以及在社会发展敏感时期对ASD儿童进行实证研究和干预工作中包括父亲在内来评估ER的重要性。在患有ASD的儿童中，母体的存在和调节便利性以类似于哺乳动物新生儿的方式为儿童的HPA应激反应提供了社会缓冲。结果凸显了通过结合直接观察和生理指标以及在社会发展敏感时期对ASD儿童进行实证研究和干预工作中包括父亲在内来评估ER的重要性。