Validation of a brief quantitative measure of autistic traits: comparison of the social responsiveness scale with the autism diagnostic interview-revised.
Studies of the broader autism phenotype, and of subtle changes in autism symptoms over time, have been compromised by a lack of established quantitative assessment tools. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-formerly known as the Social Reciprocity Scale) is a new instrument that can be completed by parents and/or teachers in 15-20 minutes. We compared the SRS with the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) in 61 child psychiatric patients. Correlations between SRS scores and ADI-R algorithm scores for DSM-IV criterion sets were on the order of 0.7. SRS scores were unrelated to I.Q. and exhibited inter-rater reliability on the order of 0.8. The SRS is a valid quantitative measure of autistic traits, feasible for use in clinical settings and for large-scale research studies of autism spectrum conditions.
Constantino
John N
JN
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. constantino@psychiatry.wustl.edu
Davis
Sandra A
SA
Todd
Richard D
RD
Schindler
Matthew K
MK
Gross
Maggie M
MM
Brophy
Susan L
SL
Metzger
Lisa M
LM
Shoushtari
Christiana S
CS
Splinter
Reagan
R
Reich
Wendy
W
D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior