Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T17:27:11.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exploring the autism spectrum: Moderating effects of neuroticism on stress reactivity and on the association between social context and negative affect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2021

Jeroen van Oosterhout Open the ORCID record for Jeroen van Oosterhout [Opens in a new window] ,
Kim van der Linden ,
Claudia J.P. Simons ,
Thérèse van Amelsvoort  and
Machteld Marcelis
Jeroen van Oosterhout*
Affiliation:
GGzE, Mental Healthcare institution Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Kim van der Linden
Affiliation:
GGzE, Mental Healthcare institution Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Claudia J.P. Simons
Affiliation:
GGzE, Mental Healthcare institution Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Thérèse van Amelsvoort
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Machteld Marcelis
Affiliation:
GGzE, Mental Healthcare institution Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
*
Author for Correspondence: Jeroen van Oosterhout, MSc., GGzE Mental Healthcare institution Eindhoven, P.O. Box DP3918, 5600 AX, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Neuroticism is associated with increased stress reactivity. In autism spectrum disorders (ASD), emotional stress reactivity is increased and there is some evidence for an increased negative affect (NA) when with less familiar people. The aim of this study was to compare adults with ASD and controls on levels of neuroticism and on interactions between neuroticism and appraised stress or social context in models of NA. This is a cross-sectional observational study comprising a group of 50 adults with ASD and 51 controls. Experience sampling method (ESM) reports were collected for 10 days to measure daily life stress, mood, and social context. Multilevel regression analyses revealed significantly higher neuroticism levels in ASD than in controls. Adults with ASD who scored high on neuroticism showed a significantly stronger association between activity/social stress and NA (i.e., higher stress reactivity) than those with low scores. Furthermore, the association between neuroticism and NA was stronger when adults with ASD were with less familiar people compared with being alone or with familiar people. No consistent corresponding significant interactions were found in the control group. In conclusion, in ASD, neuroticism moderates the association between appraised stress and NA as well as the association between social context and NA.

Keywords

autismmomentary assessmentneuroticismsocial contextstress reactivity
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 1366 - 1375
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Angst, J., Vollrath, M., Merikangas, K. R., & Ernst, C. (1990). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in the Zurich cohort study of young adults. In Maser, J. D. & Cloninger, C. R. (Eds.), Comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders (pp. 123–137). Washington: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 5–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergdahl, J., & Bergdahl, M. (2002). Perceived stress in adults: Prevalence and association of depression, anxiety and medication in a Swedish population. Stress and Health, 18, 235–241. doi:10.1002/smi.946CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Côté, S., & Moskowitz, D. S. (1998). On the dynamic covariation between interpersonal behavior and affect: Prediction from neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1032–1046.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawson, J. F., & Richter, A. W. (2006). Probing three-way interactions in moderated multiple regression: Development and application of a slope difference test. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 917–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delespaul, P. (1995). Assessing schizophrenia in daily life: The experience sampling method. Maastricht: Maastricht University.Google Scholar
Ditzen, B., & Heinrichs, M. (2014). Psychobiology of social support: The social dimension of stress buffering. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 32, 149–162.Google ScholarPubMed
Forbes, E. E., Williamson, D. E., Ryan, N. D., & Dahl, R. E. (2004). Positive and negative affect in depression: Influence of sex and puberty. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1021, 341–347. doi:10.1196/annals.1308.042CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunthert, K. C., Cohen, L. H., & Armeli, S. (1999). The role of neuroticism in daily stress and coping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1087–1100. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.5.1087CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hesselmark, E., Eriksson, J. M., Westerlund, J., & Bejerot, S. (2015). Autism spectrum disorders and self-reports: Testing validity and reliability using the NEO-PI-R. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 1156–1166. doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2275-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hettema, J. M., An, S. S., Neale, M. C., Bukszar, J., van den Oord, E. J. C. G., Kendler, K. S., & Chen, X. (2006). Association between glutamic acid decarboxylase genes and anxiety disorders, major depression, and neuroticism. Molecular Psychiatry, 11, 752–762. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001845CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hettema, J. M., Prescott, C. A., & Kendler, K. S. (2004). Genetic and environmental sources of covariation between generalized anxiety disorder and neuroticism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 1581–1587. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.9.1581CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinkle, D. E., Wiersma, W., & Jurs, S. G. (2003). Applied statistics for the behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Hintzen, A., Delespaul, P., van Os, J., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2010). Social needs in daily life in adults with pervasive developmental disorders. Psychiatry Research, 179, 75–80. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2010.06.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoekstra, R. A., Bartels, M., Cath, D. C., & Boomsma, D. I. (2008). Factor structure, reliability and criterion validity of the autism-Spectrum quotient (AQ): A study in Dutch population and patient groups. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1555–1566. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0538-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoekstra, H., Ormel, J., & Fruyt, F. (2007). Handleiding NEO-PI-R en NEO-FFI persoonlijkheidsvragenlijsten. Amsterdam: Hogrefe Publishing.Google Scholar
Jardine, R., Martin, N. G., Henderson, A. S., & Rao, D. C. (1984). Genetic covariation between neuroticism and the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Genetic Epidemiology, 1, 89–107. doi:10.1002/gepi.1370010202CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerns, C. M., Kendall, P. C., Zickgraf, H., Franklin, M. E., Miller, J., & Herrington, J. (2015). Not to be overshadowed or overlooked: Functional impairments associated with comorbid anxiety disorders in youth with ASD. Behavior Therapy, 46, 29–39. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2014.03.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, R. C., Stang, P., Wittchen, H. U., Stein, M., & Walters, E. E. (1999). Lifetime co-morbidities between social phobia and mood disorders in the US national comorbidity survey. Psychological Medicine, 29, 555–567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Komulainen, E., Meskanen, K., Lipsanen, J., Lahti, J. M., Jylhä, P., Melartin, T., … Ekelund, J. (2014). The effect of personality on daily life emotional processes. PLoS One, 9, e110907. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110907CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krabbendam, L., Janssen, I., Bak, M., Bijl, R. V., de Graaf, R., & van Os, J. (2002). Neuroticism and low self-esteem as risk factors for psychosis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 37, 1–6. doi:10.1007/s127-002-8207-yGoogle Scholar
Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, D. V., Weiller, E., Amorim, P., Bonora, I., Harnett Sheehan, K., … Dunbar, G. C. (1997). The Mini international neuropsychiatric interview (MINI). A short diagnostic structured interview: Reliability and validity according to the CIDI. European Psychiatry, 12, 224–231. doi:10.1016/S0924-9338(97)83296-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J. D., Cunningham, S. A., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M. L. (2019). Meta-analysis of big five personality traits in autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 23, 556–565. doi:10.1177/1362361318766571CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lord, C., Rutter, M., DiLavore, P. C., Risi, S., Gotham, K., & Bishop, S. (2012). Autism diagnostic observation schedule, second edition (ADOS-2) manual (part I): Modules 1-4. Torrance, CA: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Matias, G. P., Nicolson, N. A., & Freire, T. (2011). Solitude and cortisol: Associations with state and trait affect in daily life. Biological Psychology, 86, 314–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGillivray, J. A., & Evert, H. T. (2018). Exploring the effect of gender and age on stress and emotional distress in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 33, 55–64. doi:10.1177/1088357614549317CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mroczek, D. K., & Almeida, D. M. (2004). The effect of daily stress, personality, and age on daily negative affect. Journal of Personality, 72, 355–378. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00265.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munafò, M. R., Clark, T. G., Roberts, K. H., & Johnstone, E. C. (2006). Neuroticism mediates the association of the serotonin transporter gene with lifetime major depression. Neuropsychobiology, 53, 1–8. doi:10.1159/000089915CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myin-Germeys, I., van Os, J., Schwartz, J. E., Stone, A. A., & Delespaul, P. A. (2001). Emotional reactivity to daily life stress in psychosis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 1137–1144. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.58.12.1137CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ormel, J., Rosmalen, J., & Farmer, A. (2004). Neuroticism: A non-informative marker of vulnerability to psychopathology. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39, 906–912. doi:10.1007/s00127-004-0873-yGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orsmond, G. I., Krauss, M. W., & Seltzer, M. M. (2004). Peer relationships and social and recreational activities among adolescents and adults with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 245–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartzman, B. C., Wood, J. J., & Kapp, S. K. (2016). Can the five factor model of personality account for the variability of autism symptom expression? Multivariate approaches to behavioral phenotyping in adult autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 253–272. doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2571-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheehan, D. V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K. H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., … Dunbar, G. C. (1998). The Mini-international neuropsychiatric interview (M.I.N.I.): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 22–57.Google ScholarPubMed
Simes, R. J. (1986). An improved Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance. Biometrika, 73, 751–754. doi:10.1093/biomet/73.3.751CrossRefGoogle Scholar
StataCorp. (2013). Stata statistical software: Release 13. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.Google Scholar
Suls, J., Green, P., & Hillis, S. (1998). Emotional reactivity to everyday problems, affective inertia, and neuroticism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 127–136. doi:10.1177/0146167298242002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uchino, B. N., & Garvey, T. S. (1997). The availability of social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 15–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Linden, K., Simons, C., Viechtbauer, W., Ottenheijm, E., van Amelsvoort, T., & Marcelis, M. (2019). The effect of daily stressors on negative affect and cortisol response in adult males and females with an autism spectrum disorder. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
van Vliet, I. M., & de Beurs, E. (2007). Het MINI internationaal neuropsychiatrisch interview (MINI). Een kort gestructureerd diagnostisch psychiatrisch interview voor DSM-IV en ICD-10-stoornissen. Tijdschrift Voor Psychiatrie, 49, 393–397.Google Scholar
van Winkel, M., Nicolson, N. A., Wichers, M., Viechtbauer, W., Myin-Germeys, I., & Peeters, F. (2015). Daily life stress reactivity in remitted versus non-remitted depressed individuals. European Psychiatry, 30, 441–447. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.02.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (2008a). Manual for the Wechsler adult intelligence scale-fourth edition. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2008b). Wechsler adult intelligence scale-fourth edition technical and interpretive manual. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Woodbury-Smith, M. R., Robinson, J., Wheelwright, S., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2005). Screening adults for Asperger syndrome using the AQ: A preliminary study of its diagnostic validity in clinical practice. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 331–335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Medical Association. (2001). World medical association declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 79, 373.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material

van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material 1

Download van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material(File)
File 22.1 KB
Supplementary material: File

van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material

van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material 2

Download van Oosterhout et al. supplementary material(File)
File 28 KB