Does Having a Sibling Affect Autistic People's Empathy?

Yonat Rum, Ofer Golan, Carrie Allison, Paula Smith, Simon R. White, Simon Baron-Cohen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined whether autistic people with siblings score higher on measures of empathy than those without siblings. Cohorts of autistic children (n = 939; mean age = 7.35 years (SD = 2.15)) and autistic adults (n = 736; mean age = 37 years (SD = 12.39)) from the Cambridge Autism Research Database (CARD) were each divided into two groups: with or without siblings. Empathy was measured using the children version of the Empathy Quotient (EQ) (parent-report) for children. For adults, the EQ (self-report version) and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) were used. Contrary to the hypothesis, autistic children without siblings scored higher on EQ than those with siblings (t(283.70) = 4.20, p <.001; d = 0.50). In adults, there was no difference between autistic adults with and without siblings on both measures, but there was an interaction effect between sex and group on the RMET (f(1732) = 4.10, p = 0.04): whilst autistic males without siblings on average scored lower than females, autistic males with siblings on average performed similarly to females. Future research should investigate the possible effect of siblings on autistic males' empathy performance in a larger cohort of autistic individuals. Children's empathic abilities may be underestimated by their parents when they have siblings due to a contrast effect.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4650-4660
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume54
Issue number12
Early online date7 Nov 2023
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Funding

SBC received funding from the Wellcome Trust 214322\Z\18\Z. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. The results leading to this publication have received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 777394 for the project AIMS-2-TRIALS. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA and AUTISM SPEAKS, Autistica, SFARI. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. SBC also received funding from the Autism Centre of Excellence, SFARI, the Templeton World Charitable Fund and the MRC. All research at the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Cambridge is supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014) and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England. Any views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funders, IHU-JU2, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

FundersFunder number
AUTISM
Autism Centre of Excellence
Templeton World Charitable Fund
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative
Medical Research Council
National Institute for Health and Care Research
European Commission
Innovative Medicines InitiativeAIMS-2-TRIALS, 777394
NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research CentreBRC-1215-20014

    Keywords

    • Autism
    • Empathy
    • Siblings

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