Brief Report: The Broad Autism Phenotype in Swedish Parents of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Conditions.

The participants were recruited through social media snowball sampling, so the sample may reflect highly motivated parents rather than all Swedish parents. The sample was highly educated, with 93.3% having finished high school and 70.6% reporting a university degree. Most participants were mothers (81.5%), and the small number of male participants limited sex comparisons. The study was anonymous and self-report only, so researchers could not clinically assess the broad autism phenotype or use spouse reports. The Pragmatic language subscale had the lowest factor loadings and smallest internal consistency of the three subscales. The paper did not establish clinical cut-off scores; it says clinic-based studies are needed before the questionnaire can identify the broad autism phenotype. The study did not clinically verify autism diagnoses; it relied on anonymous self-report about first-degree relatives with an autism diagnosis, and child age and other neurodevelopmental conditions were not asked.

The only funding statement given is Vetenskapsrådet. The supplied text does not report other conflict-of-interest declarations.

Do not use the Swedish BAPQ-SE to diagnose the broad autism phenotype in a clinic. The paper says it can be used as a dimensional measure of autistic characteristics, but further validation is needed before it can identify the broad autism phenotype in clinical settings.