Poster #46 - Parent- and Self-Reported Social Skills Discrepancies in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Magnitude and Differences Across Development

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Developmental Disabilities

Integrative Statement

While most people tend to rate themselves “above average” (Kreuger & Dunning, 1999), for some populations the discrepancy between self- and other-report ratings is particularly pronounced (Gresham et al., 2000). For instance, youth with ADHD persistently over-rate their own social (and other) skills relative to others’ reports of their skills (Owens et al., 2007), but the trajectory of this discrepancy across development (particularly preteen and adolescent age groups) is markedly different than the typically-developing (TD) youth trajectory. A growing body of literature suggests that youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit a similar – perhaps even greater - discrepancy (Lerner et al., 2012; Vickerstaff et al., 2007; Kalyva, 2010). However, this literature has relied on small samples, employed no TD comparisons, and has not examined differences across development.

This study examined the difference between self- and parent-reported social skills of 209 7- to 22-year-old youth (M = 12.86, SD = 2.45; 156 Male) with ASD and typically-developing (TD) peers (see Table 1) using standard scores on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliot, 1990) or Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS; Gresham & Elliot, 2008).

The difference score for the ASD group differed significantly from zero (t(170) = 11.56, p < .001), indicating that individuals with ASD rated themselves higher in social skills abilities than did their parents; the difference score for the TD peers did not (t(37) = 1.49, p = .15; see Table 1). The discrepancy between child- and parent-reported social skills was significantly greater for the ASD compared to the TD group (F(1,207) = 12.10, p = .001, d = 0.61).

Curve estimation on the normalized dataset was run to assess differences in discrepancy size across age and between groups. The best fitting model was quadratic (F(2,206) = 3.26, p = .04) with significant linear (β= -1.15, p = .029) and quadratic (β= 1.05, p = .046) terms. This effect held only in the ASD (F(2,168) = 3.10, p = 0.05), but not the TD F(2,35) = 1.70, p = 0.20) group (See Figure 1).

This represents the largest study to date assessing parent-child social skills informant discrepancy in youth with ASD. Results replicate and extend previous research indicating that youth with ASD overestimate their social skills relative to parent-report; indeed, the magnitude of the difference is almost four-times greater than that seen in TD youth. Notably, both individuals on the spectrum and their TD peers reported themselves as “average.” Therefore, the ASD discrepancy is due to changes in parent-report social skills, but stable self-reported social skills.

These results also suggest a unique (cross-sectionally derived) curvilinear trajectory of this discrepancy in ASD across adolescence. This curve suggests a larger parent-child discrepancy in late childhood and late adolescence, but a smaller one in early adolescence (around 13). This may reflect the onset of substantially greater social demands at this age, which have been posited to be particularly pronounced for those with ASD (Picci & Scherf, 2014). Future work should further delineate the contours social informant discrepancies in ASD.

Authors

• Karys Michaela Normansell, Stony Brook University
  Presenting Author

• Kathryn M Hauschild, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erin Kang, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Matthew Daniel Lerner, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author