Brief report: an evaluation of the AQ-10 as a brief screening instrument for ASD in adults.
The 10-item Autism Spectrum Quotient screens adults for ASD as accurately as the 50-item version—use it to triage referrals.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Booth et al. (2013) asked if a 10-item quiz could spot autism in adults as well as the full 50-item form.
They gave both forms to adults with and without ASD. Then they checked if the short form caught the same people.
What they found
The 10-item Autism-Spectrum Quotient worked just as well. It kept the same hit rate and low false alarms.
That means you can swap the long form for the short one without losing accuracy.
How this fits with other research
Murray et al. (2017) later showed the AQ-10 gives fair scores to both men and women. No need to change cut-offs by sex.
Frazier et al. (2023) took the same 10 items to Hong Kong. The Chinese version still picked out adults with ASD almost perfectly.
Payne et al. (2020) looked at the full AQ in Hong Kong and found parent reports beat self-reports. Their finding does not clash with Tom et al.; it just says if you have time for the long form, ask a parent.
Why it matters
You now have a 2-minute screen that works across cultures and sexes. Slip the AQ-10 into your intake packet or telehealth visit. Score 6 or higher? Move the client to a full autism evaluation. You save 40 questions and still keep the same quality gate.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a need for brief screening instruments for autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) that can be used by frontline healthcare professionals to aid in the decision as to whether an individual should be referred for a full diagnostic assessment. In this study we evaluated the ability of a short form of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ) questionnaire, the 10 item AQ-10, to correctly classify individuals as having or not having ASD. In a sample of 149 individuals with ASD and 134 controls without an ASD diagnosis, we found that the full AQ (AQ-50) abridged AQ (AQ-S) and AQ-10 all performed well as a screen for ASD. ROC analysis indicated that sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve were very similar at suggested cut-off's for ASD across measures, with little difference in performance between the AQ-10 and full AQ-50. Results indicate the potential usefulness of the AQ-10 as a brief screen for ASD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1844-5