Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Jan;34(1):294-305. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.08.005. Epub 2012 Sep 15.
The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) has been widely used for measuring autistic characteristics in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Nonetheless, its psychometric validity is yet to be justified. This study tested the factor structure of the AQ by means of principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis using, for the first time, data from 4192 Taiwanese parents (1208 with ASD children and 2984 with typically developing children). Results yielded a 35-item, 5-dimensional factor solution that had favorable psychometric characteristics (RMSEA = .054; NNFI = .962; CFI = .969) than any of the previously-published AQ factor solutions. Subscales of this new AQ-Chinese model were statistically and semantically coherent, namely: Socialness, Mindreading, Patterns, Attention to Details and Attention Switching. The psychometric properties of the AQ-Chinese did not change between clinic-based and community-based data suggesting good fitting for a continuum of autistic expression. Furthermore, the considerable overlap between the AQ-Chinese and the AQ factor structures derived previously using student samples indicated consistency in the manifestation of the autistic profile across different cultures and age groups. Group differences in the AQ-Chinese scores were in line with previous studies, i.e. males generally scored radically higher than females except in Attention to Details. Interestingly, mothers of ASD children reported lower total AQ scores than community mothers yet no significant group difference for the fathers. Important research and clinical implications pertinent to parents with children with ASD and the utility of the AQ were drawn.
自闭症谱系商数（AQ）已被广泛用于测量自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的父母的自闭症特征。然而，其心理测量效度尚未得到证实。本研究通过主成分分析和验证性因素分析首次使用来自 4192 名台湾父母（1208 名 ASD 儿童和 2984 名发育正常儿童）的数据来检验 AQ 的因子结构。结果得出了一个 35 项、5 维因子的解决方案，其心理测量特性（RMSEA =.054；NNFI =.962；CFI =.969）优于之前发表的任何 AQ 因子解决方案。这个新的 AQ-中文模型的子量表在统计学和语义上是一致的，即：社交能力、心理解读、模式、关注细节和注意力转换。AQ-中文的心理测量特性在基于诊所和社区的数据之间没有变化，这表明它适合于自闭症表现的连续体。此外，AQ-中文与以前使用学生样本得出的 AQ 因子结构之间的显著重叠表明，在不同文化和年龄组中，自闭症特征的表现具有一致性。AQ-中文分数的组间差异与先前的研究一致，即男性的得分普遍高于女性，除了在关注细节方面。有趣的是，ASD 儿童的母亲报告的 AQ 总分低于社区母亲，但父亲之间没有显著的组间差异。本研究对自闭症儿童的父母以及 AQ 的实用性具有重要的研究和临床意义。
