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Sex Differences in Adult Autism Screening: A Comparison of Current Self-Report and Retrospective Parent-Report Measures.

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Τίτλος: Sex Differences in Adult Autism Screening: A Comparison of Current Self-Report and Retrospective Parent-Report Measures.
Συγγραφείς: Terner M; Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat- Gan, 5290002, Israel., Golan O; Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat- Gan, 5290002, Israel. ofer.golan@biu.ac.il.; OTI, The Israeli Autism Association, Giv'at-Shmuel, Israel. ofer.golan@biu.ac.il.
Πηγή: Journal of autism and developmental disorders [J Autism Dev Disord] 2026 Aug; Vol. 56 (8), pp. 3205-3214. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Mar 01.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article; Comparative Study
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7904301 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-3432 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01623257 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Autism Dev Disord Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: <2006- >: New York, NY : Springer
Original Publication: New York, Plenum Press.
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Autistic Disorder*/classification , Autistic Disorder*/diagnosis , Autistic Disorder*/psychology , Self Report*/statistics & numerical data , Medical History Taking*/methods , Medical History Taking*/statistics & numerical data , Neuropsychological Tests*/statistics & numerical data, Humans ; Male ; Female ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Parents ; Sex Factors ; Sex Distribution ; Reproducibility of Results
Περίληψη: This study investigated sex differences in adult autism screening by comparing self-reports on current traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient; AQ) and parent-reports on childhood traits (Relatives Questionnaire; RQ). The aim was to examine the differential contribution of these distinct measures to diagnostic classification in both sexes. The study compared 102 clinically diagnosed autistic adults (30 females) and 152 non-autistic adults (60 females), aged 17-35 years. Participants completed the AQ, while their parents completed the RQ. Multivariate analysis of variance and sex-stratified discriminant analyses were employed to evaluate measurement patterns in males and in females. Significant main effects were found for diagnostic group on both measures and for sex on the RQ only. Group × sex interactions were significant for both measures. Within the autistic group, males and females showed no significant difference in AQ scores, but females scored significantly lower than males on the RQ. Discriminant analyses revealed high classification accuracies for both males (95.1%) and females (96.7%), with different weighting patterns between males (AQ = 0.597 [CI: 0.413-0.720], RQ = 0.712 [CI: 0.553-0.789]) and females (AQ = 0.763 [CI: 0.637-0.898], RQ = 0.478 [CI: 0.191-0.616]). The findings suggest that current self-report may be more central for identifying autism in females, while a more balanced combination of current-self and past-parent reports may be optimal for males. These sex-specific patterns highlight the importance of considering both current self-reported traits and developmental history in adult autism screening, with potential implications for improving diagnostic accuracy across sexes.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of Interest: All authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
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Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Autism diagnosis; Autistic traits; Developmental history; Parent-report; Self-report; Sex differences
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20250302 Date Completed: 20260723 Latest Revision: 20260726
Update Code: 20260726
PubMed Central ID: PMC13391788
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-025-06753-8
PMID: 40024966
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
Περιγραφή
ISSN:1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-025-06753-8