ORGINAL PAPER Phenotypic Overlap Between Core Diagnostic Features and Emotional/Behavioral Problems in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract This study examined the phenotypic overlap between core diagnostic features and emotional/behavioral problems in a sample of 335 preschool children with aut-ism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results from principal component analysis (2 components; 49.70 % variance explained) suggested substantial phenotypic overlap between core diagnostic features and emotional/behavioral problems. Component I, Emotional Behavioral Repetitive Problems, was independent of the children’s intellectual, adaptive functioning, and structural language abilities. Component II, Social Communication Deficits, was nega-tively related to the children’s intellectual, adaptive functioning, and structural language abilities. Both com-ponents were positively related to parental stress. This exploratory study contributes to our understanding of the ASD phenotype and provides further support for including emotional/behavioral problems as part of the clinical characterization of children with ASD