High Autistic Traits Research Articles

Spatial Frequency Tuning of Body Inversion Effects

Body inversion effects (BIEs) reflect the deployment of the configural processing of body stimuli. BIE modulates the activity of body-selective areas within both the dorsal and the ventral streams, which are tuned to low (LSF) or high spatial frequencies (HSF), respectively. The specific contribution of different bands to the configural processing of bodies along gender and posture dimensions, however, is still unclear. Seventy-two participants performed a delayed matching-to-sample paradigm in which upright and inverted bodies, differing for gender or posture, could be presented in their original intact form or in the LSF- or HSF-filtered version. In the gender discrimination task, participants' performance was enhanced by the presentation of HSF images. Conversely, for the posture discrimination task, a better performance was shown for either HSF or LSF images. Importantly, comparing the amount of BIE across spatial-frequency conditions, we found greater BIEs for HSF than LSF images in both tasks, indicating that configural body processing may be better supported by HSF information, which will bias processing in the ventral stream areas. Finally, the exploitation of HSF information for the configural processing of body postures was lower in individuals with higher autistic traits, likely reflecting a stronger reliance on the local processing of body-part details.

Autistic Traits, Gender Minority Stress, and Mental Health in Transgender and Non-Binary Adults.

The present study investigated the relation between autistic traits and gender minority stress and the relative importance of autistic traits and gender minority stress in predicting mental health outcomes in gender minority adults. An online survey was completed by 90 transgender women, 72 transgender men, 48 non-binary individuals assigned male at birth (AMAB), and 98 non-binary individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB). Autistic traits positively correlated with internalised transphobia in the non-binary groups. In general, higher autistic traits and gender minority stress correlated with poorer mental health outcomes. After controlling for gender minority stress, autistic traits accounted for additional variance of suicidality across gender minority groups, anxiety symptoms in the non-binary groups, and all mental health outcomes in non-binary AFAB.

Polydipsia and autistic traits in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Polydipsia, prevalent in 6%-20% of patients with schizophrenia, results in seclusion and prolonged hospitalization. It is also observed in autistic individuals, with previous studies reporting that autism accounted for 20% of all hospitalized patients with polydipsia. The current study investigated the association between polydipsia and autistic traits in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) based on the hypothesis that higher autistic traits would be observed in schizophrenic patients with polydipsia. In the first study (study A), the autism-spectrum quotient [(AQ); Japanese version] scores of long-stay inpatients with and without polydipsia were compared. Furthermore, the association between polydipsia and autistic traits was also examined in short-stay inpatients and outpatients with SSDs (study B). Study A showed that patients with polydipsia scored significantly higher on the three AQ subscales (attention switching; communication; and imagination) compared to those without. Study B also showed that patients with polydipsia had significantly higher AQ scores overall and for several subscales compared to those without polydipsia. Binary logistic regression analysis of the combined sample showed that male gender and higher autistic traits were significant predictors of polydipsia. The study highlights the importance of focusing on such traits to understand the pathogenesis of polydipsia in SSD patients.

Lack of action-sentence compatibility effect in non-clinical individuals with high autistic traits.

Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit atypical responses to language use and comprehension. Recently, various degrees of primary autistic symptoms have been reported in the general population. We focused on autistic traits and examined the differences in mechanisms related to language comprehension using the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE). ACE is a phenomenon in which response is facilitated when the action matches the behavior described in the statement. In total, 70 non-clinical individuals were divided into low autistic and high autistic groups according to their autism spectrum quotient (AQ) scores. ACEs with adverbs and onomatopoeias were examined using a stimulus set of movement-related sentences. A choice-response task helped determine the correct sentence using antonym adverbs (slow and fast) and onomatopoeia (quick and satto) related to the speed of the movement. The low-AQ group showed ACEs that modulated the reaction time in antonym sentences. The high-AQ group showed less temporal modulation, and their overall reaction time was shorter. The low-AQ group showed faster reaction times for onomatopoeic words; however, the high-AQ group showed a tendency to reverse this trend. In individuals with intermediate autistic traits, the angle effect may be moderated by individual differences in motor skills and experience rather than autistic traits. The stimulus presentation involved a passive paradigm. This study provides insight into language comprehension processes in non-clinical individuals ranging from low to high autistic idiosyncrasy and elucidates language and behavior in individuals at different locations on the autistic trait continuum.

The relationship between sex, empathy, systemizing, and autistic traits in primary school children

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sex, empathy, systemizing, and autistic traits in primary school children. The sample included 353 primary school children aged 7-11 years. The children?s versions of the Empathy Quotient ? EQ-C, Systemizing Quotient ? SQ-C, and children?s version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient - AQ? C were used as primary outcome measures. Girls had higher empathy, while boys had higher autistic traits. Empathy and systemizing were moderately positively correlated, but both were good predictors of autistic traits. The effect of sex on autistic traits was mediated by empathy as well as by the difference between systemizing and empathy. These results partially support assumptions of the Empathizing-Systemizing theory and the Hypersystemizing theory of autism, which should be further evaluated in a population with the autism spectrum disorder.

Frequent experience with face coverings for 10 months improves emotion perception among individuals with high autistic traits: A repeated cross-sectional study.

Face coverings pose difficulties for emotion recognition, but it is unclear whether improvement in recognising emotions from the eyes is possible with experience and whether this might be dependent on one's autistic traits, given the associations between high autistic traits and poorer emotion perception and reduced gaze to the eye region. In this preregistered study, participants completed a forced-choice emotion recognition task with photographs of eyes and demographic questionnaires that measure their autistic traits and their interaction frequency with others wearing face coverings at two time points: once at the start of the face covering mandate and again 10 months later. We found that after 10 months, individuals with high autistic traits as a cohort recognised emotions from just the eyes better as a function of their experience with others wearing face coverings, suggesting that emotion perception is malleable even for those who have difficulties with emotion perception.

Classroom influence—Do students with high autistic traits benefit from their classmates’ social skills?

IntroductionChildren and adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) and high levels of autistic traits often attend special needs classrooms where they spend a lot of time with other students who demonstrate diverse impairments and competencies. Research in typical development shows that classmates and the classroom composition in terms of specific classmate competencies can have a strong impact on individual social development. In this context, classmates’ social skills are of particular interest, as they are associated with successful social interaction and the ability to establish and maintain social relationships. Based on these associations, the present study investigated whether the levels of autistic traits and social skills in children and adolescents with ID and high levels of autistic traits are influenced by their classmates’ levels of social skills.MethodsA longitudinal design was used, with the first measurement point at the beginning of the school year and the second at the end of the school year. School staff members provided information on 330 students with ID and high levels of autistic traits (20.6% girls; mean age 10.17 years, SD = 3.74) who were schooled in 142 classrooms across 16 Swiss special needs schools.ResultsResults showed that students’ individual levels of autistic traits and social skills at T2 were not predicted by the classroom level of social skills at T1 when controlling for individual levels of autistic traits, individual levels of social skills, gender, age, and general levels of functioning at T1.DiscussionConsidering the present findings, perspectives for further research and support of children and adolescents with ID and high levels of autistic traits within the classroom context are discussed.

A comparison of self-report and discrepancy measures of camouflaging: Exploring sex differences in diagnosed autistic versus high autistic trait young adults.

Camouflaging describes masking or compensating for autistic traits and/or related difficulties. Some evidence suggests autistic females camouflage more than autistic males, potentially contributing to delayed or missed diagnosis. Studies predominantly adopt self-report measures of camouflaging, potentially reflecting a person's intent to camouflage without accurately measuring effectiveness (i.e., success in fulfilling the intended effect of minimizing the appearance of autistic traits) of camouflaging. Discrepancy scores between underlying cognitive difficulties (e.g., theory of mind) and observed autistic traits (henceforth camoToM ), or between self-reported autistic traits and observed autistic traits (henceforth camoSRS ), may provide a more accurate measure of camouflaging effectiveness. Three measures of camouflaging administered to autistic males (n=46) and females (n=40), and adults with equally high levels of autistic traits but no diagnosis (n=45 males, n=43 females) recruited from a large population-based sample were compared. Self-report measures of camouflaging were significantly correlated with camoSRS scores only. Both discrepancy scores were correlated with each other. Adults with high autistic traits, but no diagnosis, had higher discrepancy camouflaging scores than diagnosed adults, but self-reported scores were similar. Diagnosed females scored higher than diagnosed males across all camouflaging measures, but no sex difference occurred in the high trait group. This might indicate that autistic females have higher intentions and greater effectiveness when camouflaging, compared with autistic males. For camoSRS only, high trait males scored significantly higher than diagnosed males; no group difference occurred for females. These results suggest that, despite all participants intending to camouflage to some extent, effective camouflaging as measured by discrepancy scores is higher in undiagnosed high autistic trait individuals. One interpretation is that effective camouflaging reduces the likelihood of autism diagnosis in males and females with high autistic traits.

The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits.

Cognitive differences in memory, information processing speed (IPS), and executive functions (EF), are common in autistic and high autistic trait populations. Despite memory, IPS and EF being sensitive to age-related change, little is known about the cognitive profile of older adults with high autistic traits. This study explores cross-sectional memory, IPS and EF task performance in a large sample of older adults in the online PROTECT cohort (n= 22,285, aged 50-80 years), grouped by high vs. low autistic traits. Approximately 1% of PROTECT participants (n= 325) endorsed high autistic traits [henceforth Autism Spectrum Trait (AST) group]. Differences between AST and age-, gender-, and education-matched comparison older adults (COA; n= 11,744) were explored on memory, IPS and EF tasks and questionnaires administered online. AST had lower performance than COA on tasks measuring memory, working memory, sustained attention, and information processing. No group differences were observed in simple attention or verbal reasoning. A similar pattern of results was observed when controlling for age, and current depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, AST self-reported more cognitive decline than COA, but this difference was not significant when controlling for current depression symptoms, or when using informant-report. These findings suggest that autistic traits are associated with cognitive function in middle-aged and later life. Older adults with high autistic traits experienced more performance difficulties in a range of memory, IPS and EF tasks compared with the low autistic traits comparison group. Further longitudinal work is needed to examine age-related change in both older autistic and autistic trait populations.

The association between autistic traits and serum testosterone, oxytocin, and androstenedione levels in prepubertal male drug naive children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might have similar problems as in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and show impairment in social behaviour. Also, there is a relationship between social relationship skills and ToM (theory of mind) skills of children with ADHD. Besides, ASD is associated with prenatal exposure to high levels of androgens, and oxytocin plays a role in the modulation of emotions, coping with stress, and social behaviour like ASD. In this study, the relationship between autistic traits and serum oxytocin, testosterone, and androstenedione levels in prepubertal male drug naive children with ADHD has been investigated. Eighty-three prepubertal children, who were diagnosed with ADHD between the ages of 6-10years old, are included in the study. For the study, intelligence levels were evaluated by using WISC-4, and autistic traits were measured by using both social responsiveness scale and theory of mind tests. In addition, serum oxytocin, testosterone, and androstenedione levels were measured by using ELISA. It has been found that serum testosterone levels of patients with lower autistic traits are significantly lower than those with moderate and severe autistic traits, while the serum oxytocin levels are significantly higher. Also, patients with severe autistic traits have had significantly higher serum androstenedione levels than those with lower and moderate autistic traits. This study suggests that patients who have higher autistic traits have elevated testosterone and androstenedione levels and lower serum oxytocin levels. Further studies are needed to clarify this relationship.

Psychopathic and autistic traits differentially influence the neural mechanisms of social cognition from communication signals

Psychopathy is associated with severe deviations in social behavior and cognition. While previous research described such cognitive and neural alterations in the processing of rather specific social information from human expressions, some open questions remain concerning central and differential neurocognitive deficits underlying psychopathic behavior. Here we investigated three rather unexplored factors to explain these deficits, first, by assessing psychopathy subtypes in social cognition, second, by investigating the discrimination of social communication sounds (speech, non-speech) from other non-social sounds, and third, by determining the neural overlap in social cognition impairments with autistic traits, given potential common deficits in the processing of communicative voice signals. The study was exploratory with a focus on how psychopathic and autistic traits differentially influence the function of social cognitive and affective brain networks in response to social voice stimuli. We used a parametric data analysis approach from a sample of 113 participants (47 male, 66 female) with ages ranging between 18 and 40 years (mean 25.59, SD 4.79). Our data revealed four important findings. First, we found a phenotypical overlap between secondary but not primary psychopathy with autistic traits. Second, primary psychopathy showed various neural deficits in neural voice processing nodes (speech, non-speech voices) and in brain systems for social cognition (mirroring, mentalizing, empathy, emotional contagion). Primary psychopathy also showed deficits in the basal ganglia (BG) system that seems specific to the social decoding of communicative voice signals. Third, neural deviations in secondary psychopathy were restricted to social mirroring and mentalizing impairments, but with additional and so far undescribed deficits at the level of auditory sensory processing, potentially concerning deficits in ventral auditory stream mechanisms (auditory object identification). Fourth, high autistic traits also revealed neural deviations in sensory cortices, but rather in the dorsal auditory processing streams (communicative context encoding). Taken together, social cognition of voice signals shows considerable deviations in psychopathy, with differential and newly described deficits in the BG system in primary psychopathy and at the neural level of sensory processing in secondary psychopathy. These deficits seem especially triggered during the social cognition from vocal communication signals.

Faster social attention disengagement in individuals with higher autism traits

ABSTRACT Introduction Atypical visual and social attention has often been associated with clinically diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and with the broader autism phenotype. Atypical social attention is of particular research interest given the importance of facial expressions for social communication, with faces tending to attract and hold attention in neurotypical individuals. In autism, this is not necessarily so, where there is debate about the temporal differences in the ability to disengage attention from a face. Method Thus, we have used eye-tracking to record saccadic latencies as a measure of time to disengage attention from a central task-irrelevant face before orienting to a newly presented peripheral nonsocial target during a gap-overlap task. Neurotypical participants with higher or lower autism-like traits (AT) completed the task that included central stimuli with varied expressions of facial emotion as well as an inverted face. Results High AT participants demonstrated faster saccadic responses to detect the nonsocial target than low AT participants when disengaging attention from a face. Furthermore, faster saccadic responses were recorded when comparing disengagement from upright to inverted faces in low AT but not in high AT participants. Conclusions Together, these results extend findings of atypical social attention disengagement in autism and highlight how differences in attention to faces in the broader autism phenotype can lead to apparently superior task performance under certain conditions. Specifically, autism traits were linked to faster attention orienting to a nonsocial target due to the reduced attentional hold of the task irrelevant face stimuli. The absence of an inversion effect in high AT participants also reinforces the suggestion that they process upright or inverted faces similarly, unlike low AT participants for whom inverted faces are thought to be less socially engaging, thus allowing faster disengagement.

Autistic traits and COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptom: Sex difference and the role of anxiety sensitivity

BackgroundIndividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and high autistic traits (ATs) are at a higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following exposure to social traumatic events. However, the association between ATs and PTSD symptoms following exposure to pathogen threat-related traumatic situations, the role of sex differences in this association, and the mediating mechanism are yet unexplored. This study explored the effects of ATs, sex, and their interaction on COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms, as well as the possible mediating role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) between ATs and PTSD symptoms. MethodIn total, six hundred ninety-six valid participants (379 women) completed questionnaires assessing their ATs, COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms, and AS. Generalized linear model and mediation effects analyses were conducted. ResultsOur results showed higher levels of COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms in the high ATs group, especially in women with high AT, compared to the low ATs group. ATs also exerts a significant indirect effect on COVID-19-related PTSD symptom through AS. ConclusionsThe results indicate an increased vulnerability of individuals with high ATs (especially females) to COVID-19-related PTSD and the mediating mechanism of the co-occurrence of ATs-PTSD. These findings have implications for PTSD interventions for individuals with high ATs and ASD in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Dietary intake in children on the autism spectrum is altered and linked to differences in autistic traits and sensory processing styles.

Diets of children and adolescents on the autism spectrum often differ when compared to their non-autistic peers. Most dietary studies have been limited by small sample sizes and rarely assess the heterogeneity of autism. Addressing this gap, this study compared the anthropometrics, dietary composition, dietary quality, and food variety of 154 Australian children and adolescents on the spectrum and 213 non-autistic children (71 siblings and 142 unrelated controls). Beyond the case-control approach, within-group comparisons assessed the influence of autism clinical presentations and sensory processing styles on body mass index (BMI) and measures of dietary intake among those on the spectrum. In this word first study of diet that included between-group comparisons with non-autistic peers (siblings and an unrelated comparison group) and within-autism group comparisons, we found that children on the spectrum consumed limited variety and lower quality of food and non-autistic siblings also ate comparably higher levels of energy-dense, nutrient poor food, and less diary. This may be due to autistic traits influencing family's diets or shared sensory sensitivities driving dietary intake. Within the autism group, higher autistic traits were associated with lower BMIs and a specific dietary pattern higher in simple carbohydrates and lower in unprocessed protein. Contrastingly, greater sensitivity to sensory stimuli was associated with a healthier diet. Increased age was linked to more varied diets but also diets higher in saturated fats and energy-dense, nutrient poor foods. Overall, this research highlights that potential mediators of dietary intake, such as familial influences, autistic traits, sensory processing styles, age and sex, need to be considered when assessing diet in the autistic population. LAY SUMMARY: In this study of dietary differences linked to autism, children, and teenagers on the spectrum ate fewer different foods and were less likely to eat recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables when compared to non-autistic siblings and unrelated children and teenagers. There were also family differences, in that those on the spectrum and their siblings ate more unhealthy foods and less dairy. Among those on the spectrum, dietary differences were linked to age, sex, autistic traits and sensory processing styles.

Autistic traits heighten sensitivity to rejection-induced social pain.

Autistic traits-subclinical forms of characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorders-are associated with poor social interactions and high risks for mental health disorders. We hypothesized that altered sensitivity to social rejection is an important contributor to psychological distress observed among individuals with high autistic traits. Experiment 1 adopted a social-judgment task and compared behavioral and neural activity in response to social rejection between participants exhibiting either high or low autistic traits (HAT and LAT, respectively). Rejection-induced hurt feelings, P3 amplitudes, and θ-oscillation magnitudes were greater in the HAT group than in the LAT group. Mediation analysis indicated that autistic traits heighten rejection-induced social pain through increasing frontal-midline θ-oscillations. Responses to nonsocial feedback in the age-judgment task were comparable, confirming that the between-group differences were specific to social negative feedback. Experiment 2 assessed the association between autistic traits, rejection sensitivity, and psychological distress among randomly recruited participants. Results showed that autistic traits affected depressive/anxious symptomatology partially through heightened rejection sensitivity. Therefore, autistic traits heighten sensitivity to rejection-induced social pain that leads to psychological distress. This finding will help facilitate the development of strategies for coping with social pain and improving mental health for individuals with high autistic traits.

Bottom-up vs. top-down connectivity imbalance in individuals with high-autistic traits: An electroencephalographic study.

Brain connectivity is often altered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is little consensus on the nature of these alterations, with studies pointing to either increased or decreased connectivity strength across the broad autism spectrum. An important confound in the interpretation of these contradictory results is the lack of information about the directionality of the tested connections. Here, we aimed at disambiguating these confounds by measuring differences in directed connectivity using EEG resting-state recordings in individuals with low and high autistic traits. Brain connectivity was estimated using temporal Granger Causality applied to cortical signals reconstructed from EEG. Between-group differences were summarized using centrality indices taken from graph theory (in degree, out degree, authority, and hubness). Results demonstrate that individuals with higher autistic traits exhibited a significant increase in authority and in degree in frontal regions involved in high-level mechanisms (emotional regulation, decision-making, and social cognition), suggesting that anterior areas mostly receive information from more posterior areas. Moreover, the same individuals exhibited a significant increase in the hubness and out degree over occipital regions (especially the left and right pericalcarine regions, where the primary visual cortex is located), suggesting that these areas mostly send information to more anterior regions. Hubness and authority appeared to be more sensitive indices than the in degree and out degree. The observed brain connectivity differences suggest that, in individual with higher autistic traits, bottom-up signaling overcomes top-down channeled flow. This imbalance may contribute to some behavioral alterations observed in ASD.

No evidence that autistic traits predict programming learning outcomes

With the increased importance of computer programming in society, researchers have been searching for ways to predict which students are most likely to succeed, as well as those who may have difficulty when beginning to learn to program. It has been suggested that autistic traits relate to increased interest and aptitude for abstract science, and that people with higher numbers of autistic traits have a stronger tendency to ‘systemize’, which can be advantageous for studying natural and manmade systems. This could also mean that higher autistic traits are associated with greater programming abilities. In this study, we therefore investigated whether autistic traits, measured with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), predicted course grades and performance on an independent programming test at the end of an introductory undergraduate programming course. We also examined the relationship between AQ scores and five cognitive skills that were measured at the start of the programming course (logical reasoning, pattern recognition, algebra, vocabulary learning, grammar learning). We found that the participants scored higher on autistic traits than the general population. However, overall autistic traits did not predict programming skill at the end of the course. Similarly, no individual subscale of the AQ predicted programming skills, nor were there any correlations between cognitive skills and autistic traits. Therefore, there is no evidence to support autistic traits being reliably related to programming skill acquisition.

Sex differences in predictors and outcomes of camouflaging: Comparing diagnosed autistic, high autistic trait and low autistic trait young adults.

Many autistic people use strategies that help them adapt in social situations and hide behaviours that may seem different to non-autistic individuals - this is called camouflaging. Camouflaging may help autistic people fit in socially; however, it might also lead to poorer well-being. It has been suggested that autistic females camouflage more than autistic males. This article explored differences between males and females who have an autism diagnosis, have characteristics of autism but no diagnosis and those with few autistic characteristics. It is important to include these groups as camouflaging may make it more difficult to get an autism diagnosis and therefore make it less likely a person will receive support. We found that autistic women camouflaged more than all other groups. The group with few autistic characteristics (males and females) camouflaged the least. Loneliness was found to be a possible reason for camouflaging for the diagnosed autistic group only. In terms of outcomes related to camouflaging, it was found that those who camouflaged most had a lower quality of life; this was true of all groups. This tells us that there may be different reasons to camouflage, and different outcomes related to camouflaging for those with many characteristics of autism (including those with a diagnosis), and those with few. It is important that clinicians, teachers, parents and other stakeholders are aware of the negative outcomes associated with camouflaging so that more support can be provided for those who need it.

Strong Relationship Between Rapid Auditory Processing and Affective Prosody Recognition Among Adults with High Autistic Traits.

This study investigated whether individuals with high autistic traits rely on psychoacoustic abilities in affective prosody recognition (APR). In 94 college students, Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and psychoacoustic abilities were measured. Results indicated that higher AQ, higher rapid auditory processing (RAP), and maleness were associated with a lower APR accuracy for low-intensity prosodies. There was a strong positive association between RAP and APR for participants with high AQ, whereas low-AQ participants showed no such pattern. The findings suggest a reliance on psychoacoustic abilities as compensatory mechanism for deficits in higher-order processing of emotional signals in social interactions, and imply potential benefits of auditory interventions in improving APR among individuals with high autistic traits.

602-P: Prenatal Exposure to Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Autistic Traits among Typically Developing Children

Children exposed to GDM in utero are at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social deficits. Limited studies have tested if GDM exposure is associated with higher autistic traits in typically developing children or what the neural substrates are. We used the social responsiveness scale (SRS) to measure differences in autistic traits between GDM-exposed and unexposed children and examined if white matter pathways involved in the social brain network (SBN) were related to autistic traits in children. Children were recruited from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to participate in BrainChild, a study assessing neural programming of disease risk (N=136; 9 ±1.5 years; 63% female; 52% GDM-exposed) . During visits, children completed a brain magnetic resonance imaging scan, demographics were collected, and parents completed the SRS. Maternal GDM diagnosis, glucose levels from a 1-hr 50g glucose challenge completed during pregnancy, and pre-pregnancy BMI were obtained from electronic medical records. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was used to assess white matter microstructure. Linear regression was used to test associations between SRS raw scores with GDM exposure, maternal glucose levels, and SBN white matter pathways, controlling for child age, sex, socioeconomic status, and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI. SRS scores were higher for GDM-exposed children than unexposed (GDM: 35.7±2.1; Unexposed: 29.5±2.3, p=0.03) . Maternal glucose levels were associated with higher child SRS scores (β=0.002, p=0.06) . Higher SRS scores were associated with reduced FA in multiple SBN white matter tracts (p<0.01) . GDM exposure and higher maternal glucose levels were associated with more autistic traits, suggesting that intrauterine exposure to a GDM hyperglycemic environment may affect autistic traits even among typically developing children. Further, SBN white matter tracts may be related to social deficits. Disclosure J.M.Alves: None. B.C.Angelo: None. S.Negriff: None. S.H.Luo: None. T.Chow: None. R.Cabeen: None. S.A.Carter: None. A.Xiang: None. K.A.Page: None. Funding pAmerican Diabetes Association (#1-14-ACE-36) ; R01DK116858