Cross-Cultural Validity of the Social Communication Questionnaire for Adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorder

J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Feb;47(2):393-404. doi: 10.1007/s10803-016-2967-2.

Abstract

Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is important throughout the lifespan. The objective was to investigate the transcultural diagnostic validity of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in a clinical sample of 451 adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD) with and without ASD in Germany, the U.S.A. and Great Britain. Variables associated with higher SCQ sum-scores were higher levels of IDD, male gender, a diagnosis of ASD and the study site (Germany > U.S.A > G.B.). An ROC analysis revealed a cut-score of 13, which resulted in a sensitivity of 0.87 and a specificity of 0.58. It is recommended to adjust the cut-score according to level of IDD and gender. Further research is needed to align diagnostic assignment of ASD across different sites and countries.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Diagnostics; Intellectual developmental disorder; SCQ; Validity.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / diagnosis
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / ethnology*
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology
  • Berlin / ethnology
  • Communication*
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intellectual Disability / diagnosis
  • Intellectual Disability / ethnology*
  • Intellectual Disability / psychology
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • London / ethnology
  • Male
  • Ohio / ethnology
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / standards*