Quantitative assessment of autism symptom-related traits in probands and parents: Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale.
Autism susceptibility genes likely have effects on continuously distributed autism-related traits, yet few measures of such traits exist. The Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale (BPASS), developed for use with affected children and family members, measures social motivation, social expressiveness, conversational skills, and flexibility. Based on 201 multiplex families, psychometric data on the BPASS are reported. Adequate inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were found. Parents had lower BPASS scores than affected children, after controlling for IQ. Parents and affected children showed overlapping distributions suggesting the BPASS captured variability in traits across groups. BPASS scores were not correlated with ethnicity or parent education; however, some domains were correlated with IQ. The BPASS holds promise as a quantitative phenotypic assessment for genetic studies.
Dawson
Geraldine
G
University of Washington Autism Center and Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. dawson@u.washington.edu
Estes
Annette
A
Munson
Jeffrey
J
Schellenberg
Gerard
G
Bernier
Raphael
R
Abbott
Robert
R
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D010641:Phenotype; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D014705:Verbal Behavior