Mexican version of the Autism Behavior Checklist: validity and reliability

Lilia Albores-Gallo, Psychiatric Care Services CONASAMA, Hospital Psiquiátrico Infantil Dr. Juan N. Navarro Secretaría de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico
Karen L. Varela-Orozco, Psychiatric Care Services CONASAMA, Hospital Psiquiátrico Infantil Dr. Juan N. Navarro Secretaría de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico
Ofelia Roldán-Ceballos, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital General Dr. Fernando Quiróz Gutiérrez, Mexico City, Mexico
Claudia List-Hilton, Occupational Therapy Department, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA
Ana P. Maurer, Psychiatric Care Services CONASAMA, Hospital Psiquiátrico Infantil Dr. Juan N. Navarro Secretaría de Salud, Mexico City, Mexico

Background: The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) evaluates symptoms in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) within a school setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the ABC Mexican version. Methods: Participants were children (n = 133, aged 2-17). All parents were interviewed with the autism diagnostic interview- revised (ADI-R) to confirm an ASD diagnosis and then answered the ABC checklist. The sample for the ABC test-retest analysis consisted of 19 parents with unaffected typically developing children between 2 and 17 years old. Results: Children and adolescents (n = 133) with a mean age of 6.9 years (standard deviation [SD] 3.7), 83.5% were males. The ABC total mean score was 69.3 (SD 25). The Internal consistency through the Cronbach Alfa coefficient was α = 0.83 < p = 0.001 for the 57 ABC items. The 10-day test-retest reliability showed a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = 0.98, p < 0.001. The Spearman correlation coefficients between the ABC subscales and the ADI-R ranged from (rs = 0.494) to (rs = 0.816). Criterion validity with a cutoff of 30 resulted in a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 37%. The best Kappa coefficient was 0.285 between the ABC and the ADI-R. Conclusions: The Mexican ABC has good psychometric properties. Further studies should investigate its value in educational settings.

Keywords: Validity. Questionnaire. Autism spectrum disorders. Children. Spanish language.