Empathy, systemizing, and autistic traits in anorexia nervosa: A pilot study

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Objectives: This pilot study examined whether patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) would display an empathizing–systemizing psychometric profile similar to that found in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and whether people with AN would score highly on a measure of autistic traits. Method: Self‐report measures of empathy, systemizing, and autistic traits were administered to 22 female AN patients and 45 female healthy controls (HC). Results: AN patients and HCs did not differ significantly in their self‐reported empathy and systemizing. AN patients scored significantly higher than HCs on the autism‐spectrum quotient. Conclusions: Replication of these findings is required with larger samples and more sensitive measures.

This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit: