Psychometric properties of the chinese version of autism spectrum quotient‐children's version: A sex‐specific analysis

Abstract

A Simplified Chinese translation of the Autism Spectrum Quotient‐Children's Version (AQ‐C) is needed for research in mainland China. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition that differs in presentation and prevalence by sex. Thus, evaluating the psychometric validity of the AQ‐C in males and females is an important step in its validation. The present study aims to develop a Chinese translation of the parent‐report AQ‐C, and test its psychometric properties among Mandarin Chinese speaking boys and girls. A total of 1,020 non‐clinical children and 134 children with ASD were assessed. Factor analyses were performed for the whole sample, as well as for girls and boys separately. A 30‐item, 5‐factor model (the Chinese AQ‐C) showed adequate goodness of fit (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.037; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.907; Tucker‐Lewis index [TLI] = 0.901) for the whole sample. According to parents' reports, non‐clinical boys had significantly higher scores than non‐clinical girls on the Chinese AQ‐C. Sex‐specific factor structures were identified resulting in a 4‐factor model with 32 items for girls (the Chinese AQ‐Girls), and a 4‐factor model with 34 items for boys (the Chinese AQ‐Boys). The cut‐off scores of the Chinese AQ‐C, AQ‐Girls, and AQ‐Boys were 44.5, 42.5, and 46.5, respectively. These three Chinese versions of the AQ‐C all showed satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.786–0.840) and concurrent validity with the Social Responsiveness Scale (r = 0.789–0.814) for the total scale. Differences have been found in the sex‐specific factor structures of the AQ‐C which would be more reliable to use for future research when measuring autistic traits in the general population. Autism Res 2019, 12: 303–315 © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary This study developed Chinese versions of the Autism Spectrum Quotient‐Children's Version (AQ‐C) in Chinese boys and girls together and separately. The AQ‐C showed good psychometric properties in boys and girls together and separately. There were differences in sex‐specific factor structures of the AQ‐C. These results suggest that the sex‐specific Chinese versions of the AQ‐C provide reliable and valid measurement of autistic traits.

Exploring Cultural Differences in Autistic Traits: A Factor Analytic Study of Children with Autism in China and the Netherlands

“…Second, the AQ-Child includes items related to children's subjective, internal states, including imagination and mindreading, which parents may find difficult to report on. While previous studies showed adequate concurrent validity, good internal consistency and good test-retest reliability of the Mind-reading and/or Imagination subscales (Sun et al, 2019;Gomez et al, 2018), it would be worthwhile for future studies to examine differences in validity of the imagination/mindreading subscales and the social behavior subscales. Furthermore, study recruitment was not the same in both countries.…”

“…Within ASD, males outnumber females with a sex ratio of 4.3:1 (Maenner, 2020). Previous studies found that boys with ASD are prone to isolation and thus less social (Hiller et al, 2015) and have more stereotyped and repetitive behaviors than girls (Hiller et al, 2015;Sun et al, 2019;Szatmari et al, 2012). Moreover, although ASD is generally considered a 'life-long' condition, the severity of core symptoms seems to increase or decrease as children grow older (Fountain et al, 2012;Louwerse et al, 2015;Scheeren et al, 2019).…”

“…The parent-report children's version of the AQ (AQ-Child) aims to quantify autistic traits in children 4-11 years old across five theoretical domains (Social skills, Attention to detail, Attention switching, Communication and Imagination) (Auyeung et al, 2007;Baron-Cohen et al, 2001). The factor structure of the parent-report AQ-Child varies according to different studies (Auyeung et al, 2007;Gomez et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2019). Auyeung et al (2007) found a 4-factor model (Mind-reading, Attention to detail, Social Skills and Imagination), with 47 items based on 1225 typically developing UK children.…”

“…Auyeung et al (2007) found a 4-factor model (Mind-reading, Attention to detail, Social Skills and Imagination), with 47 items based on 1225 typically developing UK children. A Chinese study reported a 5-factor model (Socialness, Social communicative competence, Imagination, Patterns and Attention Switching), with 30 items in a sample of 1020 typically developing children (Sun et al, 2019). However, they reported a low alpha coefficient (0.588) for the Attention Switching domain, suggesting weak internal consistency of this subscale.…”

Selected personality correlates of procrastination in Polish adolescents–preliminary report

“…Difficulties in processing different, often more general, contexts of a task are described by the weak central coherence theory (WCC), which addresses autistic individuals (Russell et al, 2019;Scher, Shyman, 2019). Second-arily, this can create a sense of overload and fatigue, and it some cases promote non-activity, withdrawal from task execution, failure to finish an activity or complete it on time (Sun et al, 2019).…”