The Anxiety Scale for Autism--Adults (ASA-A) captures the autistic anxiety experience, but we do not know whether it is structurally equivalent for men and women, or non-autistic people. Measurement invariance analysis considered gender and diagnostic status (342 cis-gender autistic men (N = 105) and women (N = 237), 316 cis-gender non-autistic…

The current study evaluated a brief, informant-based autism interview: the Developmental, Dimensional and Diagnostic Interview -- Adult Version (3Di-Adult). Feasibility, reliability and validity of the Dutch 3Di-Adult was tested amongst autistic participants (n = 62) and a non-autistic comparison group (n = 30) in the Netherlands. The 3Di-Adult…

The social validity of autism behavioral intervention has been questioned. Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) attempt to address some concerns, but it is unclear whether autistic people consider NDBIs socially valid. Social validity of an NDBI, Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), was investigated through autistic adults…

Many in the autistic community have expressed concerns regarding the use of behavioral interventions with autistic children, suggesting that these interventions may not be socially valid. Though behavioral interventions have evolved to be more naturalistic and child-centered, little structured research has been done to explicitly seek autistic…

The Adult Autism Quotient (AQ), the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the Relative's Questionnaire (RQ) were used as part of the Adult Asperger's Assessment (AAA) by a diagnostic service for adults without an intellectual disability with suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This service is part of the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Little…

The current study examined factorial invariance of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Revised (CESD-R) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) using a convenience sample of 434 adults surveyed though Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were sorted into two groups based on their score on the Autism-Spectrum…

Sensory issues are highly prevalent in autism and previous findings support a relationship between questionnaires of sensitivity and autistic symptoms and traits, whereas studies that examine this relationship through behavioural assessments of sensitivity are less consistent. The current study explores these differences and suggests that…

Given that camouflaging has been suggested to contribute to delayed diagnosis and mental health problems among autistic people, validated measures of the construct are needed. This study describes the psychometric evaluation of the Swedish adaptation of the self-reported Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) in autistic (n = 100) and…

For autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults there are several diagnostic instruments available with a need for consideration of the psychometric properties. This study aimed to conduct a first psychometric evaluation of a new diagnostic ASD instrument, the NIDA (Dutch Interview for Diagnostic assessment of ASD in adults) in 90 adult males without…

Emotion dysregulation is common among autistic people, yet few measures have received psychometric evaluation in this population. We examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a commonly-used measure of emotion dysregulation, the "Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale" ("DERS"), in a sample of 156 autistic…

Valid and reliable tools to measure mental health are a key requirement to developing a robust evidence base on mental health difficulties and autism. There are several reasons why mental health measures developed for the neurotypical population may not be valid and reliable when used with autistic adults. Using data collected from a national…

The Social Shapes Test (SST) is a measure of social intelligence which does not use human faces or rely on extensive verbal ability. The SST has shown promising validity among adults without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but it is uncertain whether it is suitable for adults with ASD. We find measurement invariance between adults with (n = 229)…

We explored the appropriateness and measurement properties of a suicidality assessment tool (SBQ-R) developed for the general population, in autistic adults--a high risk group for suicide. 188 autistic adults and 183 general population adults completed the tool online, and a sub-sample (n = 15) were interviewed while completing the tool.…

This study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a new self-report measure of social cognition: the Theory of Mind Inventory:Self-Report--Adult (ToMI:SR-Adult). Adults with autism (or a suspicion of autism; n = 111) and typically developing adults (n = 109) completed a demographic questionnaire and the ToMI:SR-Adult online. Both…

Few measures are appropriate to assess autism symptoms in minimally verbal adolescents and adults. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition (ADOS-2, Lord et al., in Autism diagnostic observation schedule--2nd edition (ADOS-2). Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, 2012) Modules 1 and 2 were designed and validated with…