Baron-Cohen, S. (2007). Autism Spectrum Quotient -- Children's Version (AQ-Child) [Database record]. PsycTESTS.
https://doi.org/10.1037/t00351-000
The Autism Spectrum Quotient—Children’s Version (AQ-Child; Baron, 2007) is a parent-report questionnaire that aims to quantify autistic traits in children 4–11 years old. It was adapted from the adult and adolescent versions of the AQ, and items that were not age-appropriate in the adult questionnaires were revised accordingly. The initial 50 items in the AQ-Child were kept as close to the AQ-Adult and AQ-Adol as possible, with most questions aimed at the same behaviors. Items were worded to produce an approximately equal agree/disagree response in order to avoid a response bias. The range of scores on the AQ-Child is 0–150. It was administered to children with an autism spectrum condition (ASC) (n = 540) and a general population sample (n = 1,225). An item analysis was conducted to examine scoring patterns on each item (see Table 1). Inspection of these scores showed that there were three items where controls scored higher than Group 2 (items 29, 30, 49). All three of these items focus on ‘attention to detail’. Closer inspection suggests that these items may be difficult to examine for young children and so these were eliminated in subsequent analyses. Internal consistency of the 5 AQ-Child subscales were found to be satisfactory. Test-retest reliability (mean intertest interval = 12.3 weeks) was good. The retained 47 items of the AQ-Child were subjected to principal components analysis (PCA). An oblique rotation was used, since it is reasonable to assume that the autism sub-components would be related. Five components arose explaining 21.8, 8.9, 5.1, 4.2 and 3.2% of the variance. An inspection of the scree plot revealed a clear break after the first, second and fourth components. It was decided to retain four components for further investigation. Before rotation, the four-component solution explained a total of 40% of the variance. A correlation (r = 0.33) was found between the first and third factors, confirming that the factors are not independent. To aid in the interpretation of these components, oblimin rotation was performed. The 4 factors were named mind-reading, attention to detail, social skills and imagination. Internal reliabilities of the new factors were 0.96, 0.85, 0.94 and 0.90 respectively. (PsycTESTS Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Baron-Cohen, S.
Autism Spectrum Disorders,Autism Spectrum Quotient -- Children's Version,Psychometric Properties,Test Development
Autism Spectrum Disorders; Psychodiagnosis; Psychometrics; Test Construction; Test Reliability; Test Validity