Inventory autism spectrum syndrome: Design and study its psychometric properties

The purpose of the present study was to design a culturally suitable questionnaire for evaluating the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) and investigating its psychometric properties. Three hundred and eighty two students of Shahid Beheshti and Tehran universities participated in the present study which used a correlational design. BAPQ was designed based on symptoms of autism. The Farsi versions of Reading Mind from Voice (FVRMFV) and Reading Mind from Eyes (RMFE) tests were performed simultaneously. Exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients and independent t- tests were used to evaluate the validity and Chronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the reliability of BAPQ. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a seven factor structure for the questionnaire. These were labelled as follows: language, communication and social skills, variety of interests, global outlook, empathy and implicit perception. Correlations between BAPQ and FVRMFV and RMFE were significant. Compared to normal participants and females, parents of children with autism and male participants showed higher scores BAPQ. Cronbach's alpha of BAPQ was 0.718. BAPQ is a suitable and reliable testing device for the evaluation of broad autism phenotype and it can differentiate parents of children with autism from the normal population and males from females.