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Assessing Autistic Traits in a Taiwan Preschool Population: Cross-Cultural Validation of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS)

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Abstract

The cross-cultural validity of the Mandarin-adaptation of the social responsiveness scale (SRS) was examined in a sample of N = 307 participants in Taiwan, 140 typically developing and 167 with clinically-diagnosed developmental disorders. This scale is an autism assessment tool that provides a quantitative rather than categorical measure of social impairment in the general population. SRS total and subscale scores distinguished significantly between autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disorders (p < 0.01). Total SRS scores and sensitivity and specificity of the scale for diagnosing developmental disorders in the Taiwan study were similar to those observed in Western studies. These findings support the cross-cultural validity of the SRS scale for detecting autistic traits and for distinguishing between autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the families, teachers, and psychologists who participated in this study for their time and effort. They also acknowledge John N. Constantino, M.D. for his advice on this project and for his thoughtful review of an earlier version of this manuscript. Preliminary findings of this study were presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the 2010 annual International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and at 2010 annual meeting of Taiwanese Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Jessica Wang

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Li-Ching Lee

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec.2 Shih-Pai Rd, Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ying-Sheue Chen & Ju-Wei Hsu

  4. Department of Pediatrics, New-York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Jessica Wang

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  1. Jessica Wang
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  2. Li-Ching Lee
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  4. Ju-Wei Hsu
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Correspondence to Ju-Wei Hsu.

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Wang, J., Lee, LC., Chen, YS. et al. Assessing Autistic Traits in a Taiwan Preschool Population: Cross-Cultural Validation of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2450–2459 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1499-7

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