Autism spectrum disorder is a neuropsychiatric disorder defined by the presence of social deficits, communication abnormalities, stereotyped or repetitive behaviours. A number of family and twin studies have suggested that a behavioral phenotype that is qualitatively similar to but more broadly defined than that which defines autism occurs more commonly in relatives of autistic individuals than in the general population.

In this research, relation between broad autism phenotype and impairment of facial expression of emotion were studied.

Seventy-two parents who had a child with a diagnosis of DSM-IV Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 38 parents who had a typically developing child and without family history of ASD were included. The parents were assessed for broad autism phenotype by Autism-Spectrum Quotient (ASQ) and Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) and for impairment in the recognition of facial expressions by Emotion Recognition Test. Student’s t-test was used to evaluate the differences between the two groups. Results had compared by using ANOVA and ANCOVA.

The social skill and aloofness scores of parents with autistic children was found significantly higher than healthy group (p<0.05). Parents of children with autism performed less well than controls on accuracy of surprise facial expressions.

Parents of children with autism seem to have higher risk for social interaction features than others. Parents of children with autism may have more problems with recognition of facial expressions.