Alexithymia in children with and without autism spectrum disorders
Open accessAbstract
Alexithymia refers to pronounced difficulty in identifying and describing one's own emotions and is associated with an externally oriented focus of thinking. Alexithymia is known to be much more common in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared with the typically developing (TD) adult population. However, we know very little about alexithymia in young children with ASD and advancing our understanding of this topic may be of critical clinical and translational importance. Here, we present the first study to examine alexithymia in children with ASD. We find that alexithymia is substantially elevated in ASD on both self- and parent-report measures. Despite both measures being sensitive to on-average group differentiation, we find no evidence of correlation between such measures, indicating that children and their parents may be using different sources of information. Parent-rated alexithymia is also associated with increasing levels of autistic traits. Discrepancy between self and other alexithymia ratings are also associated with autistic traits, but only in ASD. These results underscore the idea that assessing alexithymia in ASD at younger ages may help identify important subgroups that have particular difficulties in the domain of emotion processing. Autism Res 2016, 9: 773-780. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Alexithymia is frequently severe in ASD.
“difficulty identifying/labeling emotions (alexithymia), which has been shown to be frequently severe in ASD”
From Sensory, emotional and cognitive contributions to anxiety in autism spectrum disorders (2017) · cites this paper as Griffin et al., 2015
Cites
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02172145 · Cited by 9,065 · see citing works
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., Pickles, A., & Rutter, M. (2000) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1005592401947 · Cited by 7,520 · see citing works
The Prevalence of ‘Alexithymic’ Characteristics in Psychosomatic Patients
Sifneos, P. E. (2010) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000286529 · Cited by 2,818 · see citing works
DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Bell, C. C. (1994) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03520100096046 · Cited by 2,608 · see citing works
The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia scale—II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity
Bagby, R. M., Taylor, G. J., & Parker, J. D. A. (1994) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(94)90006-x · Cited by 2,431 · see citing works
Test Review: Social Responsiveness Scale–Second Edition (SRS-2)
Bruni, T. P. (2014) · Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment · doi:10.1177/0734282913517525 · Cited by 705 · see citing works
The Autism Spectrum Quotient: Children’s Version (AQ-Child)
Auyeung, B., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., & Allison, C. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-007-0504-z · Cited by 670 · see citing works
Alexithymia : a view of the psychosomatic process
Nemiah, J. C. (1976) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 626 · see citing works
Hill, E., Berthoz, S., & Frith, U. (2004) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000022613.41399.14 · Cited by 619 · see citing works
Mixed emotions: the contribution of alexithymia to the emotional symptoms of autism
Bird, G., & Cook, R. (2013) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/tp.2013.61 · Cited by 592 · see citing works
Self-Referential Cognition and Empathy in Autism
Lombardo, M. V., Barnes, J. L., Wheelwright, S. J., & Baron‐Cohen, S. (2007) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000883 · Cited by 439 · see citing works
Atypical neural self-representation in autism.
Lombardo, M., Chakrabarti, B., Bullmore, E., Sadek, S. A., Pasco, G., Wheelwright, S., Suckling, J., Henty, J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2010) · Brain : a journal of neurology · doi:10.1093/brain/awp306 · Cited by 375 · see citing works
Subgrouping the Autism Spectrum: Reflections on DSM-5
Lai, M.-C., Lombardo, M. V., Chakrabarti, B., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2013) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001544 · Cited by 330 · cited 2× · see citing works
“, more personalized treatments) and might also prove useful in honing in on mechanisms that distinguish such potential ASD subgroups [Lai et al., 2013].”
BackgroundIncreased sensitivity in neuroimaging analyses using robust regression
Wager, T. D., Keller, M. C., Lacey, S. C., & Jonides, J. J. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.01.011 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
An alexithymia questionnaire for children: Factorial and concurrent validation results
Rieffe, C. J., Oosterveld, P., & Terwogt, M. M. (2005) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.05.013 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Williams, D. (2010) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361310366314 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Minshew, N. J., Turner, C. A., & Goldstein, G. (2005) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-004-1030-x · Cited by 163 · see citing works
The role of the self in mindblindness in autism
Lombardo, M. V., & Baron‐Cohen, S. (2010) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.09.006 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
A Lack of Self-Consciousness in Autism
Toichi, M., Kamio, Y., Okada, T., Sakihama, M., Youngstrom, E. A., Findling, R. L., & Yamamoto, K. (2002) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.8.1422 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Unraveling the paradox of the autistic self
Lombardo, M. V., & Baron‐Cohen, S. (2010) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.45 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Self‐referenced memory, social cognition, and symptom presentation in autism
Henderson, H. A., Zahka, N. E., Kojkowski, N. M., Inge, A. P., Schwartz, C. B., Hileman, C. M., Coman, D. C., & Mundy, P. C. (2009) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02059.x · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Pre-Conceptual Aspects of Self-Awareness in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Case of Action-Monitoring
Williams, D., & Happe, F. G. E. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0619-x · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Way, I. F., Applegate, B. E., Cai, X., Franck, L. K., Black-Pond, C., Yelsma, P., Roberts, E., Hyter, Y. D., & Muliett, M. (2010) · Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · doi:10.1080/19361521.2010.523778 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Brief Report: Do Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Think They Know Their Own Minds?
Mitchell, P., & O’Keefe, K. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-007-0530-x · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Grisdale, E. E., Lind, S. E., Eacott, M. J., & Williams, D. M. (2014) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.08.023 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Pfeifer, J. H., Merchant, J. S., Colich, N. L., Hernandez, L. M., Rudie, J. D., & Dapretto, M. (2012) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1563-3 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective
Murphy, J., Brewer, R., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2017) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2016.12.006 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
“, 2006), discrepancies arise between parent- and child-report measures (Griffin et al., 2015).”
Sensory, emotional and cognitive contributions to anxiety in autism spectrum disorders
South, M., & Rodgers, J. (2017) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00020 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
“High alexithymia levels are also seen in young children diagnosed with ASD (Griffin et al., 2015).”
BackgroundAlexithymia and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Complex Relationship
Poquérusse, J., Pastore, L., Dellantonio, S., & Esposito, G. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01196 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Mazefsky, C. A., Yu, L., White, S. W., Siegel, M., & Pilkonis, P. A. (2018) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1947 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Conner, C. M., White, S. W., Beck, K. B., Golt, J., Smith, I. C., & Mazefsky, C. A. (2019) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361318810709 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Oakley, B. F. M., Jones, E. J. H., Crawley, D., Charman, T., Buitelaar, J., Tillmann, J., Murphy, D. G., Loth, E., & The EU-AIMS LEAP Group (2022) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291720003244 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
“Second, due to the lack of availability of self-report alexithymia measures for children and individuals with intellectual disability (Griffin, Lombardo, & Auyeung, 2016; Loas, Braun, Delhaye, & Linkowski, 2017), we were only able to include autistic individuals aged ⩾ 12 years, with IQ ⩾ 67.”
BackgroundTrevisan, D. A., Bowering, M., & Birmingham, E. (2016) · Molecular Autism · doi:10.1186/s13229-016-0108-6 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“[47] assessed alexithymia using the Children’s Alexithymia Questionnaire-Self Report (CAQ-SR; [68]).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialEmotional decision-making in autism spectrum disorder: the roles of interoception and alexithymia
Shah, P., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2016) · Molecular Autism · doi:10.1186/s13229-016-0104-x · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“Elevated rates of alexithymia are observed in ASD [20–22] and other clinical”
BackgroundPatil, I., Melsbach, J., Hennig‐Fast, K., & Silani, G. (2016) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep23637 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Alexithymia mediates the relationship between interoceptive sensibility and anxiety
Palser, E. R., Palmer, C. E., Galvez-Pol, A., Hannah, R., Fotopoulou, A., & Kilner, J. M. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0203212 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Ozsivadjian, A., Hollocks, M. J., Magiati, I., Happé, F., Baird, G., & Absoud, M. (2021) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13295 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Facial emotion recognition in autistic adult females correlates with alexithymia, not autism
Ola, L., & Gullon-Scott, F. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320932727 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
“, 1995), 40%–65% of individuals with ASC meet its diagnostic criteria (Griffin et al., 2016).”
BackgroundTrevisan, D. A., Mehling, W. E., & McPartland, J. C. (2020) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2458 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
The Role of Language in Alexithymia: Moving Towards a Multiroute Model of Alexithymia
Hobson, H., Brewer, R., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2019) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073919838528 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Emotional self-awareness in autism: A meta-analysis of group differences and developmental effects
Huggins, C. F., Donnan, G. L. J., Cameron, I. M., & Williams, J. H. G. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320964306 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“While self-report data indicates that pre-adolescent autistic children did not differ from their peers in emotional selfawareness, parent-report outcomes found that autism was associated with poorer emotional self-awareness (Costa et al., 2017; Griffin et al., 2016; Trevisan 2016).”
MethodResultUnderstanding, recognising and treating co-occurring anxiety in autism
Rodgers, J., & Ofield, A. (2018) · Current Developmental Disorders Reports · doi:10.1007/s40474-018-0132-7 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Kirst, S., Diehm, R., Bögl, K., Wilde-Etzold, S., Bach, C., Noterdaeme, M. A., Poustka, L., Ziegler, M. D., & Dziobek, I. (2022) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2022.104068 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Expressive Incoherence and Alexithymia in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Costa, A. P., Steffgen, G., & Samson, A. C. (2017) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3073-9 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“The few studies that have examined alexithymia in children with ASD have found that, similarly to adults (Berthoz and Hill 2005), alexithymia is more prevalent among children with ASD than among TD children (Griffin et al. 2015; Rieffe et al. 2007).”
BackgroundMorality in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review
Dempsey, E. E., Moore, C., Johnson, S. A., Stewart, S. H., & Smith, I. M. (2019) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579419001160 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Alexithymia may explain the relationship between autistic traits and eating disorder psychopathology
Vuillier, L., Carter, Z., Teixeira, A. R., & Moseley, R. L. (2020) · Molecular Autism · doi:10.1186/s13229-020-00364-z · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“The connection between autistic traits and alexithymia corroborates the general prevalence of alexithymia in both male and female autistic people [84, 86], but the lack of relationship between eating psychopathology and alexithymia was surprising, given the links demonstrated between these phenomena in women [87], and…”
BackgroundResultRamey, D., Healy, O., & McEnaney, E. (2022) · Behavior Analysis in Practice · doi:10.1007/s40617-022-00710-y · Cited by 48 · see citing works
van der Cruijsen, R., Murphy, J., & Bird, G. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210519 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“The clinical relevance of alexithymia is increasingly being recognised [28], not least because increased rates of alexithymia are observed in both adolescents and adults with a range of psychiatric disorders; for example eating disorders [29,30], schizophrenia [31,32], and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) [33,34].”
BackgroundImbiriba, T., Demirkaya, A., Singh, A., Deniz Erdogmus, B., & Goodwin, M. S. (2023) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.48898 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Furthering the language hypothesis of alexithymia: An integrated review and meta-analysis
Lee, K. S., Murphy, J., Catmur, C., Bird, G., & Hobson, H. (2022) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104864 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“Informant discrepancy in alexithymia ratings has also been observed in small developmental samples (e.g., parent vs. child self-ratings in an ASD sample in Griffin et al., 2016; and in a DLD sample in Hobson and van den Bedem, 2021).”
BackgroundModelling Me, Modelling You: the Autistic Self
Perrykkad, K., & Hohwy, J. (2019) · Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s40489-019-00173-y · Cited by 37 · see citing works
First-Hand Accounts of Interoceptive Difficulties in Autistic Adults
Trevisan, D. A., Parker, T., & McPartland, J. C. (2021) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04811-x · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Williams, D. M., Bergström, Z. M., & Grainger, C. (2016) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361316680178 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“Furthermore, adults with ASD report high levels of alexithymia, a difficulty identifying and labelling one’s own emotional states (e.g. Griffin et al., 2015).”
BackgroundSocial Cognition in Autism and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: The Same but Different?
Boada, L., Lahera, G., Pina‐Camacho, L., Merchán‐Naranjo, J., Díaz‐Caneja, C. M., Bellón, J. M., Ruiz-Vargas, J. M., & Parellada, M. (2020) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04408-4 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Reduced differentiation of emotion-associated bodily sensations in autism
Palser, E. R., Galvez-Pol, A., Palmer, C. E., Hannah, R., Fotopoulou, A., Pellicano, E., & Kilner, J. M. (2021) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320987950 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“As demonstrated in the current sample, the validity and the reliability of these measures in children, particularly those diagnosed with autism, is still uncertain, with a lack of association between child- and parent-reported alexithymia observed (Griffin et al., 2016).”
BackgroundResultShalev, I., & Uzefovsky, F. (2020) · Molecular Autism · doi:10.1186/s13229-020-00362-1 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Pedregal, C. R., & Heaton, P. F. (2021) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104040 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Edmiston, E. K., Blain, S. D., & Corbett, B. A. (2016) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1660 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Silva, K., Lima, M., Magalhães, A., Fafiães, C., & de Sousa, L. (2019) · Anthrozoös · doi:10.1080/08927936.2019.1550278 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Palser, E. R., Fotopoulou, A., Pellicano, E., & Kilner, J. M. (2020) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04279-4 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Hobson, H., Westwood, H., Conway, J. R., McEwen, F. S., Colvert, E., Catmur, C., Bird, G., & Happe, F. G. E. (2020) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101531 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Similarly, Griffin et al (2016) did not find a significant correlation between their child self-report and parent-report measures of alexithymia.”
Huggins, C. F., Donnan, G. L. J., Cameron, I. M., & Williams, J. H. G. (2020) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101612 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Vaıoulı, P., & Panayiotou, G. (2021) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.733775 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Social endophenotypes in autism spectrum disorder: A scoping review
Tiede, G., & Walton, K. M. (2020) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579420000577 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Cerutti, R., Spensieri, V., Presaghi, F., Renzi, A., Palumbo, N., Amendola, S., Solano, L., & Trani, M. D. (2020) · Psychiatric Quarterly · doi:10.1007/s11126-020-09715-8 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Vaıoulı, P., Luminet, O., & Panayiotou, G. (2022) · Autism · doi:10.1177/13623613211058512 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“…in the adult literature: Children and younger adolescents that scored higher on autistic traits also scored higher on alexithymia, irrespective of measure utilized, compared to the participants classified low in autism (Griffin et al., 2016; Kloosterman et al., 2009; Milosavljevic et al., 2016).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialHobson, H., & van den Bedem, N. P. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18168309 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Griffin, Lombardo, and Auyeung [10] collected self-report and parent-report data from autistic”
BackgroundResultInfluentialNeural features of sustained emotional information processing in autism spectrum disorder
Mazefsky, C. A., Collier, A., Golt, J., & Siegle, G. J. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320903137 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“However, given that many individuals with ASD present with poor emotional self-awareness (Griffin et al., 2016; Rieffe et al., 2011), automatic unaware sustained emotional information processing could be possible.”
BackgroundAlexithymia in autism spectrum disorder
Ferguson, C. J., Preece, D. A., & Schweitzer, R. (2023) · Australian Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00050067.2023.2174409 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“Furthermore, rather than using self-report exclusively, future work might benefit from a multi-method approach, incorporating structured interviews for alexithymia (e.g., Bagby et al., 2006) and/or parent/informant reports (e.g., Griffin et al., 2016).”
ResultAlper, M. (2023) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/14152.001.0001 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Luisier, A.-C., Petitpierre, G., Bérod, A. C., Richoz, A.-R., Lao, J., Caldara, R., & Bensafi, M. (2019) · Perception · doi:10.1177/0301006619828300 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Temeltürk, R. D., Yürümez, E., Uytun, M. Ç., & Öztop, D. B. (2021) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103922 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Smit, S., & Hopper, J. (2022) · Autism in Adulthood · doi:10.1089/aut.2021.0101 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“The paragraphs that follow explore this further in terms of: Sensory sensitivities; Attention to detail; Differences in social communication and interaction; Empathy; and Alexithymia.”
InfluentialSivathasan, S., Dahary, H., Burack, J. A., & Quintin, E. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0279002 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“In contrast, music can elicit an affective reaction in the listener without requiring a need to understand or empathize with the composer’s mental states or emotional intentions [8, 35].”
BackgroundLeonardi, E., Cerasa, A., Famà, F. I., Carrozza, C., Spadaro, L., Scifo, R., Baieli, S., Marino, F., Tartarisco, G., Vagni, D., et al. (2020) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci10080496 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Hammering that Nail: Varied Praxis Motor Skills in Younger Autistic Children
Crucitti, J., Hyde, C. E., & Stokes, M. A. (2019) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04136-4 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Commentary: Alexithymia, not autism, is associated with impaired interoception
Livingston, L. A., & Livingston, L. M. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01103 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Surprisingly, only one study has addressed elevated alexithymia in children with ASD (Griffin et al., 2016) and another in adolescence (Milosavljevic et al., 2016).”
InfluentialBarnes, G. L., Ozsivadjian, A., Baird, G., Absoud, M., & Hollocks, M. J. (2025) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-024-06246-0 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
The effect of alexithymia on depression: evidence from meta-analysis
Liu, Z., He, S., & Hou, C. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1465286 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Individuals with elevated levels of dysarthria and those with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) may encounter difficulties in self-awareness and articulating aspects of themselves (Griffin et al., 2016), potentially leading to underestimation of dysgraphia (and ASC).”
A network analysis of alexithymia and smartphone addiction in children and adults
Yang, H., Chen, Y., Yuan, R., Yan, J.-W., Zhang, N., & Zhou, H. (2024) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-024-05986-7 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Furthermore, alexithymia shares as high as 40-65% of comorbidity with autism spectrum disorders (ASD, Griffin et al., 2016), a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by significant impairments in social communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors ( DSM-5 , APA, 2013 ).”
Formulating autism systemically: Part 1 – A review of the published literature and case assessments
Crittenden, P. M. (2017) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1359104517713241 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Relationship between Pain, Somatisation, and Emotional Awareness in Primary School Children
Rossi, M., Bruno, G., Chiusalupi, M., & Ciaramella, A. (2018) · Pain Research and Treatment · doi:10.1155/2018/4316234 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Physiological and communicative emotional disconcordance in children on the autism spectrum
Finkel, E., Sah, E., Spaulding, M., Herrington, J. D., Tomczuk, L., Masino, A. J., Pang, X., Bhattacharya, A., Hedley, D., Kushleyeva, Y., et al. (2024) · Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders · doi:10.1186/s11689-024-09567-4 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Children on the autism spectrum have stronger traits of alexithymia [16, 31, 77, 86] found that alexithymia traits accounted for emotional discordance in their sample as well.”
BackgroundJankowski, K. F., & Pfeifer, J. H. (2021) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04808-6 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Emotion awareness and cognitive behavioural therapy in young people with autism spectrum disorder
Roberts‐Collins, C., Mahoney‐Davies, G., Russell, A., Booth, A., & Loades, M. E. (2017) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361317710215 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Studies of YP with ASD have found elevated alexithymia scores on both self-report and parent-report measures when compared to a typically developing control group (Griffin et al., 2016).”
BackgroundTrevisan, D. A., Abel, E. A., Brackett, M. A., & McPartland, J. C. (2021) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.639736 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Effective emotion regulation strategies are needed to minimize the negative emotional impact of adverse events and to reframe difficult situations into constructive learning opportunities (Gross and John, 2003; Mandell, 2008; Mazefsky et al., 2013; Charlton et al., 2019).”
BackgroundSivathasan, S., Philibert-Lignières, G., & Quintin, E. (2021) · Musicae Scientiae · doi:10.1177/1029864920988160 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Why might people with ASD perform as well as TD people on emotion recognition tasks using music? Some researchers argue that music can produce an affective reaction in the listener, without their having to understand the mental states or emotional intentions of others, such as the composer (Griffin et al., 2016); that…”
BackgroundLabusch, M., Perea, M., Sahuquillo-Leal, R., Moscardó, I. B., Carrasco, Á., Cañada-Pérez, A., & García‐Blanco, A. (2022) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-022-05795-6 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
How Closely Related Are Parent and Child Reports of Child Alexithymia?
Lampi, A. J., Jaswal, V. K., & Evans, T. M. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588001 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Giannotti, M., de Falco, S., & Venuti, P. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00332 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“…2006) such as impairment in mentalizing and selfreflection, less coherent representations of emotional experience (Losh and Capps, 2006), absence of emotional vocalization (Heaton et al., 2012), behavioral rigidity, and impaired inhibitory control (Mosconi et al., 2009; D’Cruz et al., 2013).”
BackgroundAlexithymia may explain the genetic relationship between autism and sensory sensitivity
Yorke, I., Murphy, J., Rijsdijk, F. V., Colvert, E., Lietz, S., Happe, F. G. E., & Bird, G. (2025) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-025-03254-1 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children
Dempsey, E. E., Moore, C. L., Johnson, S. A., Stewart, S. H., & Smith, I. M. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.782610 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Speyer, L. G., Brown, R., Camus, L., Murray, A. L., & Bonnie Auyeung, B. (2021) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-021-04986-x · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Alexithymia Is Associated With Internalizing Disorders in a Clinical Adolescent Outpatient Sample
Çoban, Ö. G., & Önder, A. (2021) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000001390 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Increased prevalence of alexithymic traits was reported in adolescent clinical samples with various mental disorders (Donfrancesco et al., 2013; Griffin et al., 2016).”
Background(2021) · Journal of Psychiatry and Brain Science · doi:10.20900/jpbs20210013 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Further, MBTs may have differential outcomes and act upon different mechanisms in adults with ASD compared to other clinical populations given atypicalities in self-referential [29], sensory [30], and emotional processing [31,32].”
BackgroundMoraitopoulou, G., Pickard, H., Simonoff, E. A., Pickles, A. R., Bedford, R., & Leno, V. C. (2024) · Autism · doi:10.1177/13623613231221928 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Given that correlations between self and parent-report measures of alexithymia in neuro-typical and autistic youth (Griffin et al., 2016; Lampi et al., 2021; Speyer et al., 2022) and children with developmental language disorder (Hobson & van den Bedem, 2021) are generally not significant (although…”
BackgroundChildhood language development and alexithymia in adolescence: an 8-year longitudinal study
Lee, K. S., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2024) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579424001007 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Oerbeck, B., Øvergaard, K. R., Attwood, T., & Bjaastad, J. F. (2021) · Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology · doi:10.21307/sjcapp-2021-005 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“questions did not convey meaning to them, in line with difficulties in identifying and communicating ones’ own emotions, known to affect children with ASD to a relative high extent (60-62).”
BackgroundThe impact of alexithymia on autism diagnostic assessmentsPreprint
Hobson, H., Westwood, H., Conway, J. R., McEwen, F. S., Colvert, E., Catmur, C., Bird, G., & Happe, F. G. E. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/8na9q · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Lovell, B., & Wetherell, M. A. (2024) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-024-02876-1 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Caregivers of children with autism, however, are renowned for having dif fi culties expressing their emotions, scoring much higher on alexithymia compared with parents of non-autistic children (Grif fi n et al., 2016).”
Chan, V., Albaum, C. S., Khanlou, N., Westra, H. A., & Weiss, J. A. (2023) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-023-01621-x · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Nijeweme-d’Hollosy, W. O., Notenboom, T., & Baños, O. (2018) · International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI) · doi:10.3390/proceedings2191200 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Even in case of alexithymia—i.e. pronounced difficulty in identifying and describing one’s own emotions [25]—physiological responses did not seem to be influenced [23].”
BackgroundPsychometric Validation of a Parent-Reported Measure of Childhood Alexithymia
Brown, R., Murray, A. L., Stewart, M. E., & Bonnie Auyeung, B. (2021) · European Journal of Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1027/1015-5759/a000640 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Narducci, C., Donno, F., Milone, A., Placini, F., Glennon, J. C., Masi, G., Coghill, D., Zuddas, A., Carucci, S., & Balia, C. (2025) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.09.066 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Emotional wellbeing in neurodivergent populations
Pincus, J. D., & Beller, K. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1606232 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Conner, C. M., Wieckowski, A. T., Day, T. N., & Mazefsky, C. A. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198855903.013.11 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Disordered Social Cognition: Alexithymia and Interoception
Brewer, R., & Bird, G. (2020) · The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior · doi:10.1017/9781108131797.036 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Kallitsounaki, A., Fysh, M. C., Williams, D. M., Spinner, L., & Kennedy, E. (2025) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-025-02869-5 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhao, X.-D., Li, W., Yang, Y., Feng, X., Hong, S., & Shi, W. (2024) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2024.102412 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Diepman, M., & Brady, N. P. (2024) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2024.102470 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A systematic review of alexithymia in young people and their parents
Davies, R. N., & Griffin, K. (2025) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2025.119855 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Pain evaluation and management in neurodevelopmental conditions
Wong, M. L., & Widerström-Noga, E. G. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-817988-8.00033-6 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Jankowski, K. F., & Pfeifer, J. H. (2020) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/uj4tv · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Interoception in Autism, Pitfalls, and Promise: A Participatory Research Perspective
Palser, E. R., Lawson, W. B., Goodall, E., & Pellicano, E. (2026) · Autism in Adulthood · doi:10.1177/25739581251414545 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Common Threads, Age-related Differences, and Avenues for Future Research: Response to Heaton
Stephenson, K. G., Quintin, E., & South, M. (2016) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2750-4 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“reported levels of alexithymia (Griffin et al. 2015) as well as differences in factor structures between child and adult versions of alexithymia measures (Rieffe et al.”
BackgroundEmotion Dysregulation Inventory
Mazefsky, C. A., Day, T. N., Siegel, M. S., White, S. W., Yu, L., & Pilkonis, P. A. (2018) · PsycTESTS Dataset · doi:10.1037/t71153-000 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Emotion Dysregulation Inventory
Mazefsky, C. A. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_102226 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Sensory Responsiveness and Alexithymia in Autistic ChildrenPreprint
Brady, N. P., & Diepman, M. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.31234/osf.io/aryhc · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Matchullis, R. L. (2018) · Libraries and Cultural Resources (University of Calgary) · doi:10.11575/prism/32325
مهارات التفکیر الایجابى للأمهات وأعراض الألیکسیثیمیا لأطفالهن الذاتویین "دراسة ارتباطیة مقارنة
مکاوى, ل. م. م. م., ياسين, ح. م., & سيف, ر. ع. ا. (2019) · مجلة البحث العلمي في الآداب · doi:10.21608/jssa.2019.75553
Review on Contributing Factors to Anxiety in High-Functioning Autism
Syriopoulou–Delli, C. K., & Πάσουλα, Ε. (2021) · Advances in early childhood and K-12 education · doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-8217-6.ch011
Emotion Dysregulation Inventory
Mazefsky, C. A. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102226-2
Emotion Dysregulation Inventory
Mazefsky, C. A. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102226-1
فعالية برنامج قائم على نظرية العقل في خفض الإلکسيثميا لدي الأطفال ذوي اضطراب التوحد
منصور, م. ا. م. (2022) · Maǧallaẗ Kulliyyaẗ Al-Tarbiyyaẗ Bil-Manṣūraẗ · doi:10.21608/maed.2022.257057
Sejima, K., Uozumi, R., Murai, T., & Funabiki, Y. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04285-x
- Authors
- Griffin, C., Lombardo, M. V., & Auyeung, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK
- Venue
- Autism Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-10
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 773-780
- ISSN
- 1939-3792 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-3806
- OpenAlex
- W2102340532
- Cited by
- 114
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 4.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- Locations
- Autism Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- alexithymia, autism spectrum disorder, children, emotional processing, autistic traits, parent-report measures, self-report measures, self-other agreement
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Affective Symptoms, Child, Child, Preschool, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Parents
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
