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. 2017 Feb 6;17(1):51.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-1185-y.

Investigating the validation of the Chinese Mandarin version of the Social Responsiveness Scale in a Mainland China child population

Chao-Qun Cen  1 , Ya-Yong Liang  1 , Qiu-Ru Chen  2 , Kai-Yun Chen  1 , Hong-Zhu Deng  1 , Bi-Yuan Chen  1 , Xiao-Bing Zou  3
Affiliations

Investigating the validation of the Chinese Mandarin version of the Social Responsiveness Scale in a Mainland China child population

Chao-Qun Cen et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Researchers from several different countries have found the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) to have good psychometric properties. However, to our knowledge, no studies on this subject have been reported in Mainland China. In this study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese Mandarin version of the SRS when used in Mainland China.

Methods: The reliability and validity of the parent-report SRS in a sample of 749 children of 4- to 14-year-olds: 411 typically developing and 338 clinical participants (202 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) were examined.

Results: Internal consistency for total scale (0.871-0.922), test-retest reliability (0.81-0.94), and convergent validity with the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) (0.302-0.647) were satisfactory. The SRS total score discriminated between the ASD and other developmental disorders. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses revealed that the SRS was predicted to accurately classify 69.2-97.2% of youth ASD. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a single-factor solution for the ASD subsample. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not confirm the theoretical construct of five factors model with inadequate fit in the ASD subsample.

Conclusions: Overall, our findings supported the reliability and validity of the parent-report SRS as one ASD screening instrument. In addition, we also suggest that the use of separate cut-offs for screening purposes (optimizing sensitivity) vs. clinical confirmation (optimizing specificity) should be considered.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Chinese version; Reliability; Social Responsiveness Scale; Validity.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
SRS total raw score means by gender (a) and age (b)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Scatter plots between SRS total raw score and age of the total sample
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Analyses of discriminant validity of SRS. Note: * values in the same group are statistically different at P <0.001 (F-test two-tailed)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a Receiver operator curve of ASD versus TD. b Receiver operator curve of ASD versus ADHD. c Receiver operator curve of ASD versus MR. d Receiver operator curve of ASD versus ADHD and MR combined
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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