Quantitative assessment of autism symptom-related traits in probands and parents: Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale.

Full Abstract

Autism susceptibility genes likely have effects on continuously distributed autism-related traits, yet few measures of such traits exist. The Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale (BPASS), developed for use with affected children and family members, measures social motivation, social expressiveness, conversational skills, and flexibility. Based on 201 multiplex families, psychometric data on the BPASS are reported. Adequate inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were found. Parents had lower BPASS scores than affected children, after controlling for IQ. Parents and affected children showed overlapping distributions suggesting the BPASS captured variability in traits across groups. BPASS scores were not correlated with ethnicity or parent education; however, some domains were correlated with IQ. The BPASS holds promise as a quantitative phenotypic assessment for genetic studies.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Dawson, Geraldine (G); Estes, Annette (A); Munson, Jeffrey (J); Schellenberg, Gerard (G); Bernier, Raphael (R); Abbott, Robert (R);

Affiliation: University of Washington Autism Center and Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. dawson(-atsign-)u.washington.edu

Grants: U19 HD34565 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of autism and developmental disorders (J Autism Dev Disord), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Mar; vol 37 (issue 3) : pp 523-36

Dates: Created 2007/03/05; Completed 2007/11/13; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 16868845, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Autistic Disorder - diagnosis
Child
Female
Humans
Intelligence Tests
Male
Motivation
Parents - psychology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.