Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ASD symptoms are overrepresented among gender-diverse youth across studies. Gender-diverse and ASD youth are at risk for anxiety, but anxiety is unclear among gender-diverse youth with ASD. The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is a commonly used ASD screener, including in multidisciplinary…

The Autism impact measure (AIM) is a caregiver-reported questionnaire assessing autism symptom frequency and impact in children, previously shown to have good test-retest reliability, convergent validity and structural validity. This study extended previous work by exploring the AIM's ability to discriminate between 'known-groups' of children, and…

This study examined the factor structure of the Brazilian version of the "Autism-Spectrum Quotient". This is a self-report questionnaire for continuous and quantitative assessment of autistic spectrum traits in adults. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the five-factor model ("social skill," "attention…

Adults with autism and subclinical autistic traits report greater internalizing problems than their peers, but the psychological processes underlying these associations are not well understood. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine whether social experiences (social connectedness and loneliness) mediate the link between…

Camouflaging of autistic characteristics in social situations is hypothesised as a common social coping strategy for adults with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Camouflaging may impact diagnosis, quality of life, and long-term outcomes, but little is known about it. This qualitative study examined camouflaging experiences in 92 adults with ASC,…

Personal space refers to a protective barrier that we strive to maintain around our body. We examined personal space regulation in young people with Williams syndrome (WS) and their typically developing, chronological age-matched peers using a parent report questionnaire and a stop-distance paradigm. Individuals with WS were reported by their…

Depression is a common concern among people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is often associated with social skills and relationship challenges. The present data, from a randomized controlled trial, examined the effect of PEERS® on self-reported depressive symptoms via the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) among 49 adolescents with ASD.…

Syndromic autism has been described in children adopted after orphanage rearing. We investigated whether the same existed in children adopted after family breakdown. Families of 54/60 adopted children aged 6-11 years (mean 102 months; SD 20; 45% male) returned screening questionnaires for autism spectrum disorder (ASD); 21/54 (39%) screened…

The present study examined whether adults with high functioning autism (HFA) showed greater difficulties in (1) their self-reported ability to empathise with others and/or (2) their ability to read mental states in others' eyes than adults with Asperger syndrome (AS). The Empathy Quotient (EQ) and "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with social skills deficits and co-occurring mental health difficulties. ASD frequently co-occurs with Intellectual Disability (ID). There is scant literature exploring the association between social skills and mental health in children with ASD, with or without ID. Participants were 292 children aged…

The relationships of autism quotient (AQ), systematizing (SQ), and empathizing (EQ), with over-selectivity were explored to assess whether over-selectivity is implicated in complex social skills, which has been assumed, but not experimentally examined. Eighty participants (aged 18-60) were trained on a simultaneous discrimination task (AB+CD-),…

Perceived loneliness and social competence were assessed for 127 children with ASD without comorbid ID, 4-7 years old, through child self-report. Using an abbreviated version of the "Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire" (LSDQ; Cassidy and Asher in "Child Dev" 63:250-365, 1992), the majority of children reported…

The current study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Emotion Regulation and Social Skills Questionnaire (ERSSQ), a rating scale designed specifically to assess the social skills of young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The participants were 84 children and young adolescents with ASD, aged between 7.97 and 14.16 years…

While physical activity (PA) is often overwhelming for people with ASD, appropriate engagement strategies can result in increased motivation to participate and associated physical and psychosocial benefits. In this framework, the multi-sport Supporting Success program aims to inform good-practice coaching strategies for community coaches to engage…

This study focused on the degree of report bias in assessing autistic traits. Both parents of 124 preschoolers completed the Social Communication Questionnaire and the Autism-spectrum Quotient. Acceptable agreement existed between mother and father reports of children's mean scores of autistic traits, but interrater reliability for rank-order…