Cross-parent reliability in rating ASD markers in infants.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the congruence and discrepancies between mother and father reports of early autism spectrum disorders (ASD) markers.


METHODS
Mothers (n = 80) and fathers (n = 78) of 12-month-old infants (55% boys) completed the first year inventory (FYI), an ASD norm-referenced screening questionnaire. Mothers also completed the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA).


RESULTS
There were significant and moderate intra-class correlations between mother and father reports for most FYI factors. Fathers' median FYI social-communication domain score was almost twice that of mothers. Mann-Whitney tests indicated that fathers rated their child significantly higher than mothers on the four FYI social-communication factors and on the sensory processing factor. Linear weighted kappa analyses indicated poor agreement on gaze-related and reactivity FYI items. FYI social-communication and sensory-regulatory factors showed significant correlations with corresponding ITSEA scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Social-communication markers pose a greater challenge for consistent report across parents than sensory-regulatory markers.
Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa , Mt. Carmel, Haifa , Israel .
Ayelet
A
Ben-Sasson
Hemda
H
Amit-Ben-Simhon
Sonya
S
Meyer
D000328:Adult; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
ASD; autism; cross-parent; infant; reliability; screening