Anxiety commonly occurs among youth on the autism spectrum, yet measurement of anxiety in this population is complicated by a number of factors, including potentially overlapping symptomatology, the child's intellectual functioning, and changes in anxiety across development. Moreover, few studies have examined the psychometric properties of anxiety measures in this population, and no study to date has tested whether there are systematic differences in the measurement of anxiety, or differential item functioning (DIF), across the high degree of heterogeneity and the developmental course of autism. To test this possibility, data were combined across multiple studies using the National Database for Autism Research, an NIH-funded data repository. Parent-report on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) and Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) were used as measures of anxiety and autism features, respectively. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit of the literature standard five-factor structure. Moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) revealed multiple items with intercept and loading DIF based on level of autism features, IQ, and age, especially for items related to social behavior. Therefore, although the measure's factor structure is consistent with that found in the general population, the SCARED may not capture differences in anxiety equivalently for all children on the spectrum and across their development. Clinicians and researchers need to be especially vigilant in measuring anxiety symptoms in children with autism by removing items flagged for DIF from the SCARED and/or by using multiple measures and informants.

中文翻译：

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基于自闭症特征、智商和年龄的差异项目功能在自闭症谱系青年儿童焦虑相关疾病 (SCARED) 筛查中

焦虑症通常发生在自闭症谱系的青少年中，但该人群中焦虑症的测量因许多因素而变得复杂，包括潜在的重叠症状、儿童的智力功能以及整个发展过程中焦虑的变化。此外，很少有研究检查该人群中焦虑测量的心理测量特性，迄今为止还没有研究测试在高度异质性和差异性的情况下，焦虑或差异项目功能 (DIF) 的测量是否存在系统差异。自闭症的发展历程。为了测试这种可能性，使用 NIH 资助的数据存储库“国家自闭症研究数据库”将多项研究中的数据组合在一起。儿童焦虑相关疾病筛查 (SCARED) 和社会交流问卷 (SCQ) 上的家长报告分别用作焦虑和自闭症特征的衡量标准。验证性因素分析表明文献标准五因素结构拟合良好。适度非线性因子分析 (MNLFA) 根据自闭症特征水平、智商和年龄，特别是与社会行为相关的项目，揭示了多个具有拦截和加载 DIF 的项目。因此，尽管该测量的因素结构与在一般人群中发现的一致，但 SCARED 可能无法同等地捕捉所有儿童在其发展过程中的焦虑差异。