Adaptive Functioning Across Contexts: A Comparison of Parent and Self-Reported Ratings in Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth.

The analysis included 132 participants from a complete cohort of 176, using only those with both parent and self reports at the same time point, so it may not represent all youth in the cohort. Participants were 16 to 24 years old, had Full-Scale IQ scores of 70 or higher, and were selected from an original cohort that included only able and unmedicated participants, so findings do not extend to younger children, people with intellectual disability, or people taking medication. Autistic and non-autistic groups were matched for age but not fully for IQ, which may affect comparisons between the groups. The independent social functioning scale was adapted for autism and had not been fully validated in an autistic sample. The study did not collect the extensive developmental history, teacher assessments, and parent interviews that would be used for a comprehensive clinical diagnosis. ADOS-2 calibrated severity scores were used, but the authors note they have limitations as a measure of overall autism symptom severity.

Do not conclude that self-ratings are more accurate than parent ratings. Agreement was poor across all adaptive domains, and parent and self ratings were both significantly associated with an independent social functioning score in autistic participants.