Research library

“What does ‘often’ even mean?” Revising and validating the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory in partnership with autistic people

Hechler and colleagues · Molecular Autism

Working with 22 people from the autism and autistic communities, 13 of them autistic, researchers reworded a 42-item questionnaire on autistic traits to be clearer and less stigmatizing. They then tested the revised version online with 1,439 adults, 331 of whom reported an autism diagnosis. It kept its intended six-part structure, agreed closely with two older questionnaires and measured women and men on the same footing; people identifying as non-binary scored highest. The authors call this initial evidence and say that using it for screening needs checking against confirmed diagnoses.