Intense interests are common in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and little research has characterized aspects of interests that are unique to or shared among children with and without ASD. We aimed to characterize interests in a sample of infants at high-familial-risk (HR) and low-familial-risk (LR) for ASD using a novel interview. Participants included HR siblings who were diagnosed with ASD at 24 months (HR-ASD, n = 56), HR siblings who did not receive an ASD diagnosis at 24 months (HR-Neg, n = 187), and a LR comparison group (n = 109). We developed and collected data with the Intense Interests Inventory at 18- and 24-months of age, a semi-structured interview that measures intensity and peculiarity of interests in toddlers and preschool-aged children. Intensity of interests differed by familial risk at 24 months, with HR-ASD and HR-Neg groups demonstrating equivalent intensity of interests that were higher than the LR group. By contrast, peculiarity of interest differed by ASD diagnosis, with the HR-ASD group showing more peculiar interests than the HR-Neg and LR groups at 24 months. At 18 months the HR-ASD group had more peculiar interests than the LR group, though no differences emerged in intensity of interests. This measure may be useful in identifying clinically-relevant features of interests in young children with ASD. We also replicated previous findings of males showing more intense interests at 18 months in our non-ASD sample. These results reveal new information about the nature of interests and preoccupations in the early autism phenotype.

中文翻译：

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对典型发育幼儿和患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 幼儿的兴趣进行分类和表征


强烈的兴趣在患有和不患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童中都很常见，但很少有研究能够描述患有和不患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童特有或共有的兴趣方面。我们的目的是通过一种新颖的访谈来描述自闭症谱系障碍高家族风险 (HR) 和低家族风险 (LR) 婴儿样本的兴趣特征。参与者包括 24 个月时被诊断患有 ASD 的 HR 兄弟姐妹（HR-ASD， n = 56）、24 个月时未诊断出 ASD 的 HR 兄弟姐妹（HR-Neg， n = 187）和 LR 对照组（ n = 109）。我们使用 18 个月和 24 个月大的强烈兴趣量表开发并收集了数据，这是一项半结构化访谈，用于衡量幼儿和学龄前儿童兴趣的强度和特殊性。 24 个月时，兴趣强度因家族风险而异，HR-ASD 和 HR-Neg 组表现出同等的兴趣强度，但高于 LR 组。相比之下，兴趣的特殊性因 ASD 诊断而异，24 个月时 HR-ASD 组比 HR-Neg 组和 LR 组表现出更多的特殊兴趣。 18 个月时，HR-ASD 组比 LR 组有更多的特殊兴趣，但兴趣强度没有差异。这项措施可能有助于识别患有自闭症谱系障碍的幼儿的临床相关兴趣特征。我们还重复了之前的研究结果，即在我们的非 ASD 样本中，男性在 18 个月大时表现出更强烈的兴趣。这些结果揭示了有关早期自闭症表型的兴趣和关注本质的新信息。