Investigating the validation of the Chinese Mandarin version of the Social Responsiveness Scale in a Mainland China child population

Abstract Background Researchers from several different countries have found the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) to have good psychometric properties. However, to our knowledge, no studies on this subject have been reported in Mainland China. In this study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese Mandarin version of the SRS when used in Mainland China. Methods The reliability and validity of the parent-report SRS in a sample of 749 children of 4- to 14-year-olds: 411 typically developing and 338 clinical participants (202 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) were examined. Results Internal consistency for total scale (0.871–0.922), test–retest reliability (0.81–0.94), and convergent validity with the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) (0.302–0.647) were satisfactory. The SRS total score discriminated between the ASD and other developmental disorders. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses revealed that the SRS was predicted to accurately classify 69.2–97.2% of youth ASD. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a single-factor solution for the ASD subsample. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not confirm the theoretical construct of five factors model with inadequate fit in the ASD subsample. Conclusions Overall, our findings supported the reliability and validity of the parent-report SRS as one ASD screening instrument. In addition, we also suggest that the use of separate cut-offs for screening purposes (optimizing sensitivity) vs. clinical confirmation (optimizing specificity) should be considered.