ERIC Number: EJ1482932
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Oct
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: EISSN-1461-7005
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Alexithymic and Autistic Traits Differentially Predict Personality Disorder Dimensions
Laura Albantakis1,2,3; Leonie Weindel1,4; Marie-Luise Brandi1; Imme C. Zillekens1; Lara Henco1; Hanna Thaler1,3; Lena Schliephake5; Leonhard Schilbach1,3,6
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v29 n10 p2463-2476 2025
Alexithymia and autism are variably characterized by social cognitive and perceptual deficits, which can lead to profound social interaction difficulties. Such difficulties are also the hallmark of personality disorders (PDs), but the potential link between alexithymia, autism, and PDs remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether autistic and/or alexithymic traits are associated with specific PD dimensions as measured by the Assessment of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Personality Disorders Questionnaire (ADP-IV). We included individuals with a formal autism diagnosis (AP, n = 89), individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis other than autism (NAP, n = 51), and neurotypical participants (NPs, n = 84). We applied linear regression analyses with autistic and alexithymic traits as predictors and PD dimensions as outcome variables, while controlling for age, depressive, and socially anxious symptoms. While autistic traits predicted the obsessive-compulsive PD dimension, alexithymic traits predicted the borderline PD dimension. Autistic and alexithymic traits were both significant predictors of the schizoid PD dimension. Taken together, our results point toward overlaps between autistic traits and specific PD dimensions that are well recognized as differential diagnoses of autism, while alexithymia was differentially linked to the borderline PD dimension.
Descriptors: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Personality Problems, Emotional Response, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Predictor Variables, Diagnostic Tests, Foreign Countries, Adults
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; Autism Spectrum Quotient; Beck Depression Inventory; Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; 2International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; 3Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany; 4University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany; 5University of Muenster, Germany; 6Department of General Psychiatry 2, LVR-Klinikum Duesseldorf/Kliniken der Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf, Germany

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