Preliminary evidence suggesting caution in the use of psychiatric self-report measures with adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders
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Abstract
This study investigated the utility of self-report measures to screen for psychiatric
comorbidities in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Thirty-eight 10-17 year olds with
an ASD and without mental retardation completed: the Children's Depression Inventory-Short
version (CDI-S), Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), Conners-Wells
Adolescent Self-report Scale-Short edition (CASS-S), and Short Leyton Obsessional
Inventory-Child Version (SLOI-CV). Their parents were interviewed with the Autism
Comorbidity Interview-Present and Lifetime (ACI-PL) to establish psychiatric diagnoses.
Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and reliability
coefficients were calculated for each self-report and compared to values from literature.
The CDI-S and CASS-S yielded a high number of false negatives, with lower sensitivities
and specificities in the sample than the literature. There was a nearly significant
difference in total mean RCMAS scores between participants with and without anxiety,
though again the means for both groups were below the threshold of concern. The SLOI-CV
yielded a high false positive rate. All four instruments had reliability coefficients
comparable to literature values. Results must be considered preliminary due to sample
size. However, the findings suggest that although self-report instruments may provide
useful information in the diagnosis of psychiatric comorbidities in ASD, caution must
be exercised in their interpretation.