Table 2.

Association between the Level of Autistic Traits and Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Preschool Children

		Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
		OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)
Emotional symptoms	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	6.79 (3.74–12.34)****	5.88 (3.19–10.83)****	4.86 (2.60–9.10)****
	High-risk group	15.84 (5.84–43.01)****	15.78 (5.60–44.46)****	11.97 (4.11–34.90)****
Conduct problems	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	6.92 (3.89–12.31)****	7.40 (4.06–13.50)****	5.95 (3.21–11.03)****
	High-risk group	14.40 (5.33–38.86)****	14.83 (5.34–41.18) ****	11.16 (3.86–32.31)****
Hyperactivity/ inattention	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	7.31 (4.13–12.93)****	7.62 (4.14–14.02)****	6.74 (3.63–12.52)****
	High-risk group	22.21 (8.47–58.21)****	21.51 (7.80–59.28)****	18.41 (6.55–51.71)****
Peer problems	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	23.90 (9.65–59.20)****	26.98 (10.63–68.47)****	26.90 (10.40–69.62)****
	High-risk group	212.08 (64.36–698.89)****	242.78 (69–851.89)****	241.79 (66.90–873.83)****
Reduced prosocial behavior	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	3.80 (2.23–6.47)****	3.76 (2.16–6.54)****	3.86 (2.19–6.81)****
	High-risk group	12.20 (4.77–31.16)****	11.39 (4.34–29.90)****	11.82 (4.43–31.52)****
Total difficulty score	Low-risk group	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
	Medium-risk group	25.18 (13.43–47.20)****	25.54 (13.29–49.08)****	21.68 (11.18–42.03)****
	High-risk group	86.32 (30.25–246.30)****	83.36 (28.57–243.22)****	68.56 (23.06–203.89)****

OR Odds ratio, CI Confidence interval, Ref Reference category

Model 1: Bivariate association between the three severity classes of autistic traits and emotional and behavioral problems

Model 2: Adjusted for gender, age (in years and months), siblings (number), mother’s education (in years), family income (in millions of Yen)

Model 3: Adjusted for the variables in Model 2 and mother’s depression (continuous score from 0 to 2)

**** p < .0001, *** p < .001, **p < .01 * < .05 (two-tailed)