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Differential Performance of Social Communication Questionnaire Items in African American/Black vs. White Children

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Abstract

Screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an essential early step in the identification process and inaccurate screening may lead to significant delays in the onset of treatment. Past research has highlighted discrepancies in the performance of ASD screening tools such as the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) among certain racial and ethnic groups. The current study explored the functioning of the SCQ among African American/Black and White respondents based on item level performance on the measure. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses showed that 16 (41%) items of the SCQ functioned differently for African American/Black respondents when compared to White respondents. Implications, such as the potential for delayed diagnosis and treatment, and the influence on downstream outcomes, are discussed.

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Notes

  1. For the purposes of this manuscript, the term African American/Black will be used to represent descriptions of African American, Black, and non-Hispanic Black.

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Acknowledgments

This journal article was supported by several Grant/Cooperative Agreements (See Funding) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank the SEED Data Coordinating Center team at the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute of Michigan State University for their support throughout this study.

Funding

This research is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research, Study to Explore Early Development through six cooperative agreements: Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000180, Colorado Department of Public Health/University of Colorado School of Medicine; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000181, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (CA); Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000182, University of Pennsylvania; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000183, Johns Hopkins University; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000184, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000498, Michigan State University. Additional support came in part from core grants awarded to the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, University of Wyoming, the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Wyoming, College of Health Sciences from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Administration on Developmental Disabilities Grant #90DDUC0011. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This study was also supported by six cooperative agreements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Cooperative Agreement Number U01000750, University of Colorado Denver; Cooperative Agreement Number U01000748, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (CA); Cooperative Agreement Number U01000752, University of Pennsylvania; Cooperative Agreement Number U01000746, Johns Hopkins University; Cooperative Agreement Number U01000749, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000901, Michigan State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Health, & Behavior Studies, College of Education & Human Development, University of North Dakota, 231 Centennial Dr Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-7189, USA

    Ethan Dahl

  2. Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Eric J. Moody

  3. Center for Leadership in Disabilities, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia

    Brian Barger

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Steven Rosenberg

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    Carolyn DiGuiseppi

  6. Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    M. Daniele Fallin

  7. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Li-Ching Lee

  8. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

    Lisa Wiggins

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  1. Ethan Dahl
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Contributions

ED, EJM, BB, and SR were involved in conceptualization. ED, EJM, and BB were involved in methodology. ED and EJM were invloved in formal analysis. ED and EJM were involved in writing—original draft preparation. ED, EJM, BB, SR, CD, MDF, LL, and LW were involved in writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Ethan Dahl.

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Dahl, E., Moody, E.J., Barger, B. et al. Differential Performance of Social Communication Questionnaire Items in African American/Black vs. White Children. J Autism Dev Disord (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-05931-w

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