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The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Adolescent’s Version in Turkey: Factor Structure, Reliability and Validity

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Abstract

We assessed the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ)-adolescent. Three assessment groups of adolescents, aged 11–18, were: 80 with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism (AS/HFA), 71 with other psychiatric disorders (PDs; 35 major depression, 18 obsessive–compulsive disorder, 18 social phobia), and 249 healthy controls. The scores of the AS/HFA group were significantly higher than the healthy control and PD groups. Cronbach α value was 0.829. Ordinal alpha value was 0.90. We showed the AQ-adolescent four-factor structure in the factor analysis. In the test–retest of AQ-adolescent and subscale scores, “very strong” significant correlation values were detected. A cut-off score of 24 best distinguished the autism group from healthy controls with 0.975 sensitivity and 0.991 specificity.

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Acknowledgements

The study has been prepared from the doctoral dissertation.

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Author notes

  1. Elif Cetinoglu

    Present address: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Batman Training and Research Hospital, Batman, Turkey

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Elif Cetinoglu & Sahbal Aras

Authors
  1. Elif Cetinoglu
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  2. Sahbal Aras
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Contributions

EC designed the study, drafting the original manuscript, performed the statistical analysis and participated in data acquisition; SA supervised the study, co-write and review the manuscript, participated in conceptual framing of the study, acquisition and analysis of data.

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Correspondence to Elif Cetinoglu.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Approval for the study was obtained from the Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Dokuz Eylül University and was dated 19.07.2018, numbered 2018/18–30.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Cetinoglu, E., Aras, S. The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Adolescent’s Version in Turkey: Factor Structure, Reliability and Validity. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 3260–3270 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05257-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05257-5

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