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A Cross-Cultural Study: The Comparison of Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Among UK, Japan, and Korea

Poster Presentation
Thursday, May 2, 2019: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM
Room: 710 (Palais des congres de Montreal)
L. Shim1, E. Yang2, H. J. Yoo3, M. Oh4 and Y. Lee5, (1)School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom, (2)Division of Speech-language pathology, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea, Republic of (South), (3)Psychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea, The Republic of, (4)Psychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Sungnam, Korea, The Republic of, (5)Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea, Republic of (South)
Background: Due to the increasing prevalence in Autism over the world since 2000s, the demanding of that cross-cultural studies with ASD is increasing. The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) questionnaire (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), a self-administered questionnaire, developed for screening for possibly affected individuals to assist in making referrals for a full diagnostic assessment, it is one of the questionnaires, which can be used in the cross-cultural study in ASD.

Objectives: This study is aimed to examine the cultural differences in Autism-Spectrum Quotient among UK, Japan and Korea with HFASD and control population.

Methods: The result of Korean AQ results was compared with UK (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) and Japanese (Wakabayashi et al., 2006) study. The studies of three countries included three groups, including adults with HFASD, control population at random, and University students. The results of three countries analyzed in every respect; (1) Cut-off score, (2) Mean AQ in each group, (3) Mean score of subscales in each group.

Results: The HFASD group scored at a similarly high level among three countries; the cut-off score was 33 in Japan, 32 in UK, and 31 in Korean data.

As a result of HFASD group comparison, there were no significant country differences between the three countries. The mean AQ score for each country was 37.9 (SD:5.31) in Japan, 35.8 (SD:6.5) in the UK, and 26.85 (SD:5.91) in Korea. In the results of subscales, the score of Local details (t=13.588, p=.047) in Japan was significantly higher than Korean.

As the result of General group comparison, the mean AQ had a significant country difference in both Korea-UK comparison (t=21.247, p=.030) and Korea-Japan comparison (t =76.083, p = .008). In the subscale results, the Korean communication score (t=121.000, p=.005) was significantly higher than UK score. As well, the results of Korea-Japan comparison displayed the country differences in three subscales; Communication, Social skills, and Imagination (one-sample t-test, all p<.05). The Korean scores were significantly lower than Japanese scores in three subscales.

In the result of mean AQ in Student group comparison, there was a significant country difference in both Korea-UK (t=27.269, p=.023) and Korea-Japan comparison (t=22.523, p=.028). The score of Communication (t=144.000, p=.004) and Imagination in Korea (t=18.857, p=.034) were significantly higher than those of UK’s. In addition, the Japanese scores of Imagination and Local details (t=14.238, p=.045; t=20.818, p=.031) were significantly higher than those of Koreans, while the Korean score was significantly higher at the Attention switching (t=15.648, p=.041).

Conclusions: The present study explored the cross-cultural differences of AQ among three countries in adults with HFASD, control population, and students. The cut-off scores in three countries were similar level, and there was no country difference of mean AQ and subscales in HFASD group comparison, except Local details. It implies that, although there are cultural differences in general population, AQ questionnaire can be used to distinguish autism traits of individuals with HFASD from the controls, regardless of cultural differences.

See more of: International and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
See more of: International and Cross-Cultural Perspectives