Confirmatory factor analysis of the Adult Asperger Assessment: the association of symptom domains within a clinical population.
The AAA does not cleanly map onto either the old triad or the new dyad, so merge social and communication scores.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA) on the adults already diagnosed with ASD.
They ran confirmatory factor analysis to see if AAA items grouped into the classic triad: social, communication, and restricted/repetitive behaviors.
They also tested a newer two-factor model that lumps social and communication together.
What they found
None of the models fit the data well.
Yet the social and communication items were almost glued together, with correlations above 0.90.
This hints that social and communication might be one big domain, not two separate ones.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) and Hongo et al. (2024) both used the same confirmatory factor method and found their tools fit neatly.
Their success shows the problem is with the AAA itself, not the math.
Congiu et al. (2016) also got clear factors in youth, so age does not explain the misfit either.
Why it matters
If you use the AAA, treat the social and communication scores as one block. Do not report them separately. This saves time and avoids giving families conflicting numbers.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a behaviourally defined disorder characterised by impairments in three domains of social interaction, communication, and repetitive, stereotyped behaviours and activities. Proposed changes to diagnostic criteria suggest that the diagnostic triad may no longer fit as the best way to conceptualise ASD, and that social and communication impairments should be considered as a single domain. The aim of this study was to examine the structure of symptom domains within the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA; Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Robinson, & Woodbury-Smith, 2005), a diagnostic tool for high functioning adults. As theoretical models already exist, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine data from a clinical population of adults (n = 153) diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to fit different models based on the structure proposed by the authors of the AAA, the traditional triad and the newly proposed diagnostic dyad. Analysis suggested that none of the tested models were a good fit on the AAA dataset. However, it did highlight very high correlations between social and communication factors (r > 0.9) within unmodified models. The results of the analysis provide tentative support for the move towards considering ASD as a dyad of 'social-communication' impairments and repetitive/restricted interests behaviours and activities, rather than the traditional triad.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.034