The study of temperament in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has the potential to provide insight regarding variability in the onset, nature, and course of both core and co-morbid symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to integrate existing findings concerning temperament in the context of ASD. Searches of Medline, PsychInfo and Scopus databases identified 64 relevant studies. As a group, children and adolescents with ASD appear to be temperamentally different from both typically developing and other clinical non-ASD groups, characterized by higher negative affectivity, lower surgency, and lower effortful control at a higher-order level. Consistent with research on typically developing children, correlational findings and emerging longitudinal evidence suggests that lower effortful control and higher negative affect are associated with increased internalizing and externalizing problems in ASD samples. Longitudinal studies suggest there may be temperamental differences between high familial risk infants who do and do not develop ASD from as early as 6-months of age. Limitations of existing research are highlighted, and possible directions for future research to capitalize on the potential afforded through the study of temperament in relation to ASD are discussed.

对自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 气质的研究有可能提供有关核心和共病症状的发作、性质和病程变异性的见解。本系统评价的目的是在 ASD 的背景下整合有关气质的现有发现。对 Medline、PsychInfo 和 Scopus 数据库的搜索确定了 64 项相关研究。作为一个群体，患有 ASD 的儿童和青少年似乎在气质上不同于典型的发展中和其他临床非 ASD 群体，其特征是更高的负面情感、更低的急迫性和在更高层次上更低的努力控制。与对典型发育儿童的研究一致，相关发现和新出现的纵向证据表明，在 ASD 样本中，较低的努力控制和较高的负面影响与增加的内化和外化问题有关。纵向研究表明，早在 6 个月大时就患有和未患 ASD 的高家族风险婴儿之间可能存在气质差异。强调了现有研究的局限性，并讨论了未来研究的可能方向，以利用通过研究与 ASD 相关的气质所提供的潜力。