# Longitudinal Investigation of Social-Communication and Attention Processes in School-Aged Children at Genetic Risk for Autism

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2020 · $607,458

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT 
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 68 children in the United States. Rising along with the prevalence
of ASD is the rate of being a sibling of a child with ASD. Multiple previous studies have demonstrated that
many first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD experience their own challenges, including not only higher
rates of ASD, but also milder social and communication difficulties, attention problems, and mood and anxiety
symptoms. In the past decade, multiple investigations, including our own, have followed longitudinally later-
born siblings who were enrolled in infancy, before parent concerns about their development were likely. This
provides an ideal sample in which to study the development of childhood psychopathology, since it is not only
relatively unbiased by selective enrollment, but is also characterized by a high rate of suboptimal outcomes.
Rates of atypical development in later-born siblings of children with ASD are high (up to 30%) at age 3, but
very few studies have followed them to school-age, making it difficult to determine whether early differences
persist and/or new difficulties emerge with age. What is imperative to know, as the prevalence of ASD
continues to increase, is what the longer-term developmental effects on siblings of children with ASD are, and
whether this growing population requires more intensive early surveillance, screening, and intervention.
The proposed project has three aims, each of which examines developmental and mental health functioning of
school-aged siblings of children with ASD. All three aims leverage previous funding, following longitudinally 3
cohorts of younger siblings of children with ASD (n=166) or typical development (n=134) ascertained in infancy
and assessed regularly, at up to 7 ages, from birth to 36 months. The sample is currently aged 6 to 16 years
and we now propose to assess them twice more, approximately two years apart, to examine multiple
dimensional measures of social-communication, attention, anxiety, and cognitive control processes. Analyses
will examine group differences in current levels of performance in these domains, as well as infant predictors of
later functioning. We will also employ multiple measures of functional impairment to explore how individual
variations in social-communication processes, attention, and cognitive control are related to later adjustment in
home, peer, and school contexts.
This project, by studying longitudinally a sample at high risk for multiple suboptimal developmental outcomes,
provides the opportunity to study very early predictors of later psychopathology and impairment. This will
enhance both early identification and treatment development efforts, as well as set the stage for future
genomic and neurobiological studies of individuals at risk for a wide range of neurodevelopmental and mental
health conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9955312
- **Project number:** 5R01MH109541-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Sally Ozonoff
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $607,458
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-09 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9955312

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9955312, Longitudinal Investigation of Social-Communication and Attention Processes in School-Aged Children at Genetic Risk for Autism (5R01MH109541-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9955312. Licensed CC0.

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