The aim of our research was to construct and validate a Russian version of the RAADS-14 (the RAADS-14 Rus), a brief self-report questionnaire designed for assessment of autistic traits, to provide a reference point in developing autism self-assessment tools in Russian-speaking population. The data were collected for 1724 participants, including a general sample of non-psychiatric young adults (n=849) and adults with ASD (n=49). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the RAADS-14 Rus has the same factor structure as the original Swedish version yielding acceptable fit indices. The discriminating properties, however, were substantially worse than in the original study (AUC = .92 vs .99); it stems from higher mean RAADS-14 scores for the Russian control sample vs the original controls (mean = 13.9 vs 3.9) confirming prior anecdotal evidences of greater mean scores yielded by international ASD assessment tools on Russian-speaking populations. The correlations between the RAADS-14 Rus domain scores and the Big Five factors were similar to previously obtained findings. The results of the study indicate that the RAADS-14 Rus can be used for assessment of autistic traits and, with some reservations, as an ASD screening tool for adult Russian-speaking population. Further research is necessary to develop more precise screening tools.

The general aim of our research was to construct and validate a Russian version of the RAADS-14 (the RAADS-14 Rus), a short self-report questionnaire designed for ASD screening, to provide the initial reference point in developing the body of instruments for assessing autistic traits in Russian-speaking adult population. This measure was chosen due to its good psychometric characteristics, reported ability to provide initial assessment for differential diagnosis, and simplicity of use. The data were collected for the total of 1569 adults, including groups of non-psychiatrical controls (n=849), adults with self-diagnosed ASD (n=91), and adults with clinically established ASD (n=25). The RAADS-14 Rus is characterized by good reliability and satisfactory construct and discriminative validity. The factor structure of the RAADS-14 Rus is similar to the factor structure of the original version and includes three domains: Social mentalizing, Social anxiety, and Sensory and cognitive perception, the between-factor correlations varying from .25 to .51. According to the initial assessment, the discriminative properties are also good (AUC = .88). The mean values of the RAADS-14 total scores for the non-psychiatrical population were notably higher than the original RAADS-14 total scores (median = 13 compared to 3) confirming prior anecdotal evidences of greater mean scores yielded by international ASD assessment tools on Russian-speaking populations. The correlations of the RAADS-14 Rus total score with the Big Five personality trait scores were similar to the data previously obtained for other national samples.The results of the study indicate that RAADS-14 Rus is a promising tool for ASD screening and can become one of the first stepping-stones in establishing a comprehensive system of ASD assessment and diagnostics for adult Russian-speaking population.