Psychometric properties of Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire Brazilian Version (BAPQ-Br)

Abstract

The Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) is an instrument that was speci?cally developed to assess autistic traits in adults of general population. It is reliable, efficient, and easy to administer. The objective of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of self-report scale of the Brazilian version of this instrument (BAPQ-Br). The psychometric properties investigation of the BAPQ-Br was performed through exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency, and comparison between clinical and nonclinical groups. Adequate internal consistency was found in all factors and in the total scale. The extraction of factors indicated three-component structure theoretically consistent with the original study, and the items of Aloof and Rigidity factors have been kept in the same domains in both versions (original and Brazilian). However, 5 items of Pragmatic Language factor presented higher factorial load on Aloof factor. Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) had significant higher scores on Aloof, Pragmatic Language factors and total scores, than parents of children with Down syndrome, and significant higher scores on Aloof factor than parents of typically developing children. The BAPQ-Br is a screening tool for broad autism phenotype which may contribute to the development of epidemiological studies in our field of activity. These results are promising. However, further studies are needed to continue the research on the validity evidences of the BAPQ-Br.

Keywords: broad autism phenotype; exploratory factor analysis; test validity.