Nosological and Genetic Aspects of Asperger Syndrome

by Fred Volkmar, Ami Klin and David Pauls, (1998) Jr. Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28, 457-463.

In this preliminary report data were collected on 99 families and in 46% of families there was a positive family history of Asperger Syndrome or something very similar to it in first-degree relatives. High rates of disturbance were reported in both parents. As noted in Table II, high rates of difficulty (i.e. social difficulties), were observed, particularly with fathers. If a more restricted approach were used in which it appeared very probably that the parent clinically had AS or something very close to it the paternal predominance remains, albeit at a somewhat lower level (19% of fathers as opposed to 4% of mothers).

This study also provides some evidence for an etiological relationship between autism and AS, as 3.5% of siblings also had a diagnosis of autism.

Data from the study are consistent with the hypothesis that there is a broader phenotype of social and developmental difficulties in family members, for example, 33% of fathers and 14% of mothers were reported to have significant social difficulty…" (p. 460-461).