Diary Reports of Concerns in Mothers of Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Across the First Year of Life

We examined the home-based concerns reported by mothers of infant siblings of children with autism across the first year of life. At all three ages measured, mothers of high-risk infants were significantly more likely than mothers of low-risk infants to report language, social communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior concerns but were not more likely to report general, medically based concerns. At 6 and 9 months of age, maternal concerns were poorly related to infant or family variables. At 12 months of age, there were moderate correlations between maternal concerns and infant behavior, and concerns were associated with the proband's autism symptoms and mothers' concurrent depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the need to examine high-risk infants' development in the family context.