Cross-cultural Differences in Comorbid Symptoms of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: an International Examination Between Israel, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America

Objective: To examine the relationship between culture and symptoms of comorbid psychopathology in those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Design: Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) for each country and each sub-scale of the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbid for Children (ASD-CC). Follow-up independent univariate analyses and post-hoc tests as needed.

Methods: Separate samples from South Korea, the UK and Israel were compared to a sample from the US in order to examine cultural contributions, using the ASD-CC.

Results: Overall, few differences were found. Significantly, the US had significantly higher scores than South Korea on the avoidant sub-scale. Additionally, the US had significantly higher scores than Israel on the over-eating and tantrum sub-scales. No significant differences were found between the US and the UK.

Conclusion: Cultural factors, such as views of typical behaviour, should be taken into account when examining symptoms of comorbidity in children with ASD.