A transdiagnostic study of theory of mind in children and youth with neurodevelopmental conditions
In a large sample, we found that transdiagnostic measures, such as IQ and social communication difficulties, are related to SAT abilities across neurodivergent and neurotypical children and youth and better describe differences in SAT performance compared to the individual diagnostic categories. Although poorer performance on ToM tasks has been classically associated with autism, this study highlights that transdiagnostic, phenotypic variables are a stronger predictor of SAT performance than diagnostic group.
Authors
- Evdokia Anagnostou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3455-9887)
- Jennifer Crosbie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-3322)
- Rob Nicolson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7086-7038)
- Kathrina de Villa
- Nhu Huynh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3747-5793)
- Jessica Brian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8181-4353)
- Kaela Amorim
- Marlee M. Vandewouw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4505-0306)
- Julie Sato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1382-4597)
- Elizabeth Kelley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5683-4376)
- Margot J. Taylor
- Celine Safati
- Aurora Almonte
Institutions
- Western University (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Queen's University (CA)
- Hospital for Sick Children (CA)
- Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (CA)
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Molecular Autism
- Published
- 2025-07-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00671-3
- Primary Topic
- Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ontario Brain Institute