Children with high-functioning autism show a normal cortisol awakening response (CAR)

SummaryIndividuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFA) show difficulties in the ability to react to change. A recent study suggested that variations in the functioning of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, especially in one of its markers – the cortisol awakening response (CAR) – may be related to those difficulties in adolescents with Asperger's syndrome. The current study investigated the CAR in a younger sample with diagnoses from the whole autism spectrum: A group of children with HFA (N = 15) was compared to a group of typically developing children (N = 25). Findings suggest that the frequency of a CAR as well as the increase in cortisol levels from awakening to 30 min later were similar between groups, indicating that variations in the CAR in HFA may not be present early in life but only develop later in adolescence or may only occur in some diagnoses from the autism spectrum.