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      Freiburg Questionnaire of linguistic pragmatics (FQLP): psychometric properties based on a psychiatric sample

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          Abstract

          Background

          Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Difficulties with respect to pragmatic speech, reading emotional and social cues, differentiating between fact and fiction, and taking into account the influence of context on a statement are commonly described features. However, hitherto established questionnaires did not focus on these symptoms.

          Methods

          In this study we present a short (11 questions) questionnaire which focuses on self-rated pragmatic speech abilities, the Freiburg Questionnaire of linguistic pragmatics (FQLP). Psychometric properties of the questionnaire were explored in a sample of 57 patients with Asperger’s Syndrome, 66 patients with other psychiatric disorders, and a convenience sample of 56 people.

          Results

          Reliability analysis showed a high Cronbach’s α. Strong correlations could be demonstrated for the FQLP with the Autism Quotient and the Empathy Quotient. Concerning divergent validity a moderate correlation was found between the FQLP and self-rated symptoms of personality disorders. No significant correlation was found between the FQLP and the vocabulary skills. The receiver operating characteristics curve showed an excellent diagnostic accuracy of the FQLP (.97).

          Conclusions

          As the control group consisted of people without mental disorder and patients with different psychiatric disorders, the results indicate that the construct examined by the FQLP is quite specific to the peculiarities of AS. The FQLP is a reliable, brief and valid instrument. First results regarding sensitivity and specificity are highly promising.

          Electronic supplementary material

          The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-014-0374-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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          Most cited references31

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          The systemizing quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences.

          Systemizing is the drive to analyse systems or construct systems. A recent model of psychological sex differences suggests that this is a major dimension in which the sexes differ, with males being more drawn to systemize than females. Currently, there are no self-report measures to assess this important dimension. A second major dimension of sex differences is empathizing (the drive to identify mental states and respond to these with an appropriate emotion). Previous studies find females score higher on empathy measures. We report a new self-report questionnaire, the Systemizing Quotient (SQ), for use with adults of normal intelligence. It contains 40 systemizing items and 20 control items. On each systemizing item, a person can score 2, 1 or 0, so the SQ has a maximum score of 80 and a minimum of zero. In Study 1, we measured the SQ of n = 278 adults (114 males, 164 females) from a general population, to test for predicted sex differences (male superiority) in systemizing. All subjects were also given the Empathy Quotient (EQ) to test if previous reports of female superiority would be replicated. In Study 2 we employed the SQ and the EQ with n = 47 adults (33 males, 14 females) with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA), who are predicted to be either normal or superior at systemizing, but impaired at empathizing. Their scores were compared with n = 47 matched adults from the general population in Study 1. In Study 1, as predicted, normal adult males scored significantly higher than females on the SQ and significantly lower on the EQ. In Study 2, again as predicted, adults with AS/HFA scored significantly higher on the SQ than matched controls, and significantly lower on the EQ than matched controls. The SQ reveals both a sex difference in systemizing in the general population and an unusually strong drive to systemize in AS/HFA. These results are discussed in relation to two linked theories: the 'empathizing-systemizing' (E-S) theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism.
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            Multiple choice vocabulary test MWT as a valid and short test to estimate premorbid intelligence.

            The discrepancy between current and premorbid ability is a relevant indicator of acquired mental impairment, which itself is closely related to general cerebral dysfunction. The use of tests sensitive to cerebral dysfunction, raises relatively few problems compared with tests being resistant that are used to estimate premorbid mental ability. For premorbid ability, verbal tests assessing knowledge, especially vocabulary, have been shown to be valid. A test, possibly more insensitive to brain dysfunction than the ones usually administered, is the multiple choice vocabulary test (MWT = Mehrfachwahl-Wortschatz-Test). At present only German versions are available. They are presented in some detail because of their advantages. Construction of the MWT is simple, and it can be easily administered in about five minutes. The results correlate fairly well with global IQ in healthy adults (median of r = 0.72 in 22 samples) and are more insensitive to current disturbances than such tests as the WAIS vocabulary test. The limitations of premorbid tests with respect to diagnostic validity are discussed. It is concluded, that studies which do not control premorbid intelligence have to be considered as a "malpractice" and should not be accepted by scientists.
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              Epidemiological surveys of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders: an update.

              This paper was commissioned by the committee on the Effectiveness of Early Education in Autism of the National Research Council (NRC). It provides a review of epidemiological studies of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) which updates a previously published article (The epidemiology of autism: a review. Psychological Medicine 1999; 29: 769-786). The design, sample characteristics of 32 surveys published between 1966 and 2001 are described. Recent surveys suggest that the rate for all forms of PDDs are around 30/10,000 but more recent surveys suggest that the estimate might be as high as 60/10,000. The rate for Asperger disorder is not well established, and a conservative figure is 2.5/10,000. Childhood disintegrative disorder is extremely rare with a pooled estimate across studies of 0.2/10,000. A detailed discussion of the possible interpretations of trends over time in prevalence rates is provided. There is evidence that changes in case definition and improved awareness explain much of the upward trend of rates in recent decades. However, available epidemiological surveys do not provide an adequate test of the hypothesis of a changing incidence of PDDs.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                andreas.riedel@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                heejung_suh@yahoo.de
                verena.haser@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de
                ismene.hermann@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                dieter.ebert@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                dieter.riemann@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                emanuel.bubl@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                tebartzvanelst@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                lars.hoelzel@uniklinik-freiburg.de
                Journal
                BMC Psychiatry
                BMC Psychiatry
                BMC Psychiatry
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-244X
                24 December 2014
                24 December 2014
                2014
                : 14
                : 1
                : 374
                Affiliations
                [ ]Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Hauptstr. 5, Freiburg, 79104 Germany
                [ ]Department of English Linguistics, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
                Article
                374
                10.1186/s12888-014-0374-9
                4296675
                25539681
                bf79bb90-1c97-4a23-9b2e-215161f67294
                © Riedel et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 8 August 2014
                : 19 December 2014
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2014

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                autism,asperger’s syndrome,questionnaire,linguistic pragmatics,screening,clinical diagnostics,language comprehension

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