Psychometric properties of the chinese version of autism spectrum quotient-children's version: A sex-specific analysis.
Use girl and boy cut-offs, not one, when scoring the Chinese AQ-C.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sun et al. (2019) translated the Autism Spectrum Quotient-Children’s Version into Mandarin. They then checked if the Chinese AQ-C works the same for boys and girls.
Parents of children with and without autism filled out the form. The team ran separate math checks for each sex to set fair cut-off scores.
What they found
The Chinese AQ-C held up well. Boys and girls showed different factor shapes, so one score rule does not fit all.
Best cut-offs: 42.5 for girls, 46.5 for boys. Using these sex-specific lines gives cleaner yes-or-no decisions.
How this fits with other research
Auyeung et al. (2008) built the original English AQ-Child with a single cut-off of 76. Fan keeps the 50 items but proves you need two cut-offs once the tool speaks Chinese.
Wakabayashi et al. (2007) first took the AQ-Child outside the UK and showed it works in Japan. Fan follows that cross-cultural path and adds the next layer: check the sexes separately.
Sun et al. (2014) found boys score about one point higher than girls on the Mandarin CAST. Fan finds the same boy-girl gap on the AQ-C and turns it into separate norms, not just a footnote.
Why it matters
If you screen Mandarin-speaking children, switch from the old single cut-off to the new sex-specific ones. You will lower false positives in girls and catch more boys who need help. Update your intake packet today: list AQ-Girls ≤ 42 and AQ-Boys ≤ 46 as the red-flag lines.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A Simplified Chinese translation of the Autism Spectrum Quotient-Children's Version (AQ-C) is needed for research in mainland China. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition that differs in presentation and prevalence by sex. Thus, evaluating the psychometric validity of the AQ-C in males and females is an important step in its validation. The present study aims to develop a Chinese translation of the parent-report AQ-C, and test its psychometric properties among Mandarin Chinese speaking boys and girls. A total of 1,020 non-clinical children and 134 children with ASD were assessed. Factor analyses were performed for the whole sample, as well as for girls and boys separately. A 30-item, 5-factor model (the Chinese AQ-C) showed adequate goodness of fit (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.037; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.907; Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = 0.901) for the whole sample. According to parents' reports, non-clinical boys had significantly higher scores than non-clinical girls on the Chinese AQ-C. Sex-specific factor structures were identified resulting in a 4-factor model with 32 items for girls (the Chinese AQ-Girls), and a 4-factor model with 34 items for boys (the Chinese AQ-Boys). The cut-off scores of the Chinese AQ-C, AQ-Girls, and AQ-Boys were 44.5, 42.5, and 46.5, respectively. These three Chinese versions of the AQ-C all showed satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.786-0.840) and concurrent validity with the Social Responsiveness Scale (r = 0.789-0.814) for the total scale. Differences have been found in the sex-specific factor structures of the AQ-C which would be more reliable to use for future research when measuring autistic traits in the general population. Autism Res 2019, 12: 303-315 © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: This study developed Chinese versions of the Autism Spectrum Quotient-Children's Version (AQ-C) in Chinese boys and girls together and separately. The AQ-C showed good psychometric properties in boys and girls together and separately. There were differences in sex-specific factor structures of the AQ-C. These results suggest that the sex-specific Chinese versions of the AQ-C provide reliable and valid measurement of autistic traits.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2019 · doi:10.1002/aur.2053