scholarly journals A Psychometric Analysis of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents Among Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Caregiver–Adolescent Agreement, Factor Structure, and Validity

Assessment ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillary K. Schiltz ◽  
Brooke E. Magnus ◽  
Alana J. McVey ◽  
Angela D. Haendel ◽  
Bridget K. Dolan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Psychometric Analysis ◽  
The Social

Social anxiety is common among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An ongoing challenge for both research and clinical practice in ASD is the assessment of anxious symptomatology. Despite its widespread use in samples of youth with ASD, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) has not received psychometric evaluation within this population; thus, the validity of its use in research and clinical practice for ASD remains unclear. The present study conducted a psychometric analysis of caregiver and adolescent SAS-A forms in a sample of adolescents with ASD ( N = 197). Results revealed (1) poor caregiver–adolescent item-level agreement, (2) a two-factor structure, (3) lack of measurement invariance between reporters, and (4) modest evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Overall, findings suggest that this measure demonstrates reasonable psychometric properties in an ASD sample. Lack of measurement invariance, however, calls for careful interpretation of research involving the SAS-A in ASD samples, particularly when the primary goal is to compare adolescent and caregiver reports. The implications of these findings for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Unravelling the phenotypic tangle of autistic, schizotypal and social anxiety traits: A Network Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orestis Zavlis ◽  
Myles Jones
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Trait Level ◽  
General Adult Population

Substantial overlap exists between schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders, with part of that overlap hypothesised to be due to comorbid social anxiety. The current paper investigates the interactions and factor structure of these disorders at a personality trait level, through the lens of a network model. The items of the Autism Quotient (AQ), Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief-Revised (SPQ-BR), and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (L-SAS) were combined and completed by 345 members of the general adult population. An Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) on the AQ-SPQ-BR combined inventory revealed two communities (factors), which reflected the general autism and schizotypal phenotypes. An additional EGA on all inventories validated the AQ-SPQ-BR factor structure and revealed another community, Social Anxiety (L-SAS). A Network Analysis (NA) on all inventories revealed several moderately central subscales, which collectively reflected the social-interpersonal impairments of the three disorders. The current results suggest that a combination of recent network- and traditional factor-analytic techniques may present a fruitful approach to understanding the underlying structure as well as relation of different psychopathologies.

scholarly journals Renaming schizophrenia: 5 × 5

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (03) ◽  
pp. 254-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinan Guloksuz ◽  
Jim van Os
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Social ◽  
Technical Features ◽  
In The Beginning

AbstractThere had been a long way to go before we felt comfortable about even discussing the issues revolving around the concept of ‘schizophrenia’, let alone reckoning on mere semantic revision. In this editorial, we aim to extend our discussion on the reasons behind the slow death of the concept of ‘schizophrenia’ and the benefits of changing the name and embracing a spectrum approach with an umbrella psychosis spectrum disorder (PSD) category (similar to autism spectrum disorder) that goes further than a mere semantic revision. We attempted to cover the topic of the renaming by providing five most pertinent points categorised under five domains: reasons, signals, challenges, promises and steps for the change. Admittedly, even a modest revision, such as classifying all psychotic disorder categories under an umbrella category of PSD, and abolishing the term schizophrenia requires careful deliberation and some effort in the beginning, but the revision is well worth the effort considering the benefits in the long run. Renaming a particular form of mental suffering should be accompanied by a broader debate of the entire diagnosis-evidence-based-practice (EBP)-symptom-reduction model as the normative factor driving the content and organisation of mental health services that may be detached from patients’ needs and reality, overlooks the trans-syndromal structure of mental difficulties, appraises the significance of the technical features over the relational and ritual components of care, and underestimates the lack of EBP group-to-individual generalisability. Individuals may make great strides in attaining well-being by accommodating to living with mental vulnerabilities through building resilience in the social and existential domains. Changing the name and the concept of ‘schizophrenia’, which goes beyond a mere semantic revision, may become the first step that allows catalysation of the process of modernising psychiatric science and services worldwide.

scholarly journals Lexical Development in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): How ASD May Affect Intake From the Input

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (11) ◽  
pp. 2659-2672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudha Arunachalam ◽  
Rhiannon J. Luyster
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Lexical Representation ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Processing Demands

Purpose Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. Method In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Conclusion Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7324013

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