Preliminary Evidence Suggesting Caution in the Use of Psychiatric Self-report Measures with Adolescents with High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study investigated the utility of self-report measures to screen for psychiatric comorbidities in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Thirty-eight 10-17 year olds with an ASD and without mental retardation completed: the (), (), (), and (). Their parents were interviewed with the () to establish psychiatric diagnoses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and reliability coefficients were calculated for each self-report and compared to values from literature. The and yielded a high number of false negatives, with lower sensitivities and specificities in the sample than the literature. There was a nearly significant difference in total mean scores between participants with and without anxiety, though again the means for both groups were below the threshold of concern. The yielded a high false positive rate. All four instruments had reliability coefficients comparable to literature values. Results must be considered preliminary due to sample size. However, the findings suggest that although self-report instruments may provide useful information in the diagnosis of psychiatric comorbidities in ASD, caution must be exercised in their interpretation.