Comparison of the Clancy Autism Behavior Scale and Autism Behavior Checklist for Screening Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Pick ABC cut-off 62 over CABS cut-off 13 for a sensitive parent screener across a wide age range.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave two parent checklists to 351 Chinese children.
Kids were 1-12 years old and already seen at a child psychiatry clinic.
Parents filled out the 57-item Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the 47-item Clancy Autism Behavior Scale (CABS).
Doctors then compared each score to the child’s final ASD diagnosis.
What they found
ABC with a cut-off of 62 caught more kids with ASD than CABS with a cut-off of 13.
ABC also made fewer false alarms.
Overall, ABC was the better screener.
How this fits with other research
Narzisi et al. (2013) also tested a parent checklist, the CBCL 1½-5, in toddlers and got sky-high accuracy.
Their numbers looked even better than Kunyi’s ABC numbers, but they studied only 18-36-month-olds while Kunyi’s sample was wider.
Gabriels et al. (2001) did the first big test of the M-CHAT toddler screener and found good sensitivity too.
Kunyi’s study extends that line of work by showing ABC works across a broader age range.
Limberg et al. (2017) later checked the German CBCL 1½-5 and found lower sensitivity than Antonio did.
The drop reminds us that language, culture, and age mix can change a tool’s performance—exactly why Kunyi’s Chinese head-to-head was needed.
Why it matters
If you need a quick parent form for ASD in a mixed-age clinic, grab the ABC and use the 62 cut-off.
It catches more cases and wastes fewer referrals than CABS.
Keep age and culture in mind when you pick any screener, and re-check numbers if you move to a new setting.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: To make early detection of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), caregiver-report instruments remain an efficient and adaptable option for the preliminary assessment. This study aimed to compare the psychometric properties of the Clancy Autism Behavior Scale (CABS) and Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) as screening tools for ASD by caregivers. METHODS: The data were collected from 154 pairs of children and their parents, who sought medical attention for suspected autism at Peking University Sixth Hospital. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, Youden index, and area under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUC) of the CABS and ABC were calculated and compared using recommended cut-off values from initial papers. The optimal cut-off values for CABS and ABC were determined according to the maximum Youden index. RESULTS: The ABC performed better than the CABS in screening autistic persons. Specifically, the ABC demonstrated higher sensitivity than the CABS in identifying children with ASD, while the CABS exhibited superior specificity compared to the ABC. According to the maximum Youden index, the optimal cut-off value was determined to be 13 for CABS and 62 for ABC. CONCLUSION: The ABC exhibits higher sensitivity and overall performance in screening individuals with ASD compared to the CABS. The ABC is more suitable as a screening tool for caregivers in both domestic and clinical settings, while the CABS may be utilized when evaluation time or medical resources are limited due to its shorter completion time and fewer items.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1177/08919887211016065