Abstract
Objective: The Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) is a standardized rating scale used for assessing problematic behavior of individuals with developmental disabilities. It has five subscales: Irritability, Social Withdrawal, Stereotypic Behavior, Hyperactivity, and Inappropriate Speech.Aprevious study in individuals with fragileXsyndrome (FXS) reported six factors, with the Social Withdrawal factor bifurcating into Socially Unresponsive and Social Avoidance factors, suggesting a different factor structure in people with FXS. Methods: We assessed the ABC's factor structure (with both exploratory and confirmatory analyses) in 797 people with FXS and we compared these findings with exploratory factors derived from an independent sample of 357 individuals with FXS. In an ancillary analysis, we compared the overlap of the traditional ABC's Social Withdrawal scores with the Social Avoidance scores from the FXS-derived newer scale to determine whether overlap between these was very high and essentially redundant. Finally, we computed norms using both the traditional and the FXS-specific algorithms. Results: In confirmatory factor analyses, the FXS-specific algorithmproduced themost consistent factor structure for the sample of 797 participants, but model fit was only marginally better than that derived by the original ABC scoring algorithm. Comparisons of factor structures fromseparate exploratory analyses revealed no consistent advantage of the FXS algorithmover the traditional algorithm. While a Social Avoidance subscale did emerge in some analyses, in other analyses, this was accompanied by loss of coherence on other domains of interest, such as the Socially Unresponsive/SocialWithdrawal subscale. Conclusion: We question whether the newer FXS scoring algorithm contributes data that are consistently helpful in evaluating behavior of people with FXS. In general, we recommend continued use of the original ABC algorithm for scoring behavior of clients with FXS. However, we acknowledge that there may be circumscribed times when the new algorithm may be appropriate for scoring, namely when anxiety and/or social avoidance constructs are the central and unequivocal domains of interest.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 512-521 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2020 |
Funding
M.G.A. has received research contracts, consulted with, served on advisory boards, or done investigator training for Bracket Global; CogState Clinical Trials, Ltd.; J&J Pharmaceuticals; MedAvante-Prophase; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc., Ovid Therapeutics; Supernus Pharmaceuticals; and Zynerba Pharmaceuticals. He receives royalties from Slosson Educational Publications. M.N. has received research contracts, consulted with, served on advisory boards, or done investigator training for the Simons Foundation, National Institutes of Mental Health, Department of Defense, Autism Treatment Network/Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health, and Cognoa. A.K. receives funding support from multiple National Institutes of Health grants to his university, all unrelated to this project. A.W. has received research contracts, consulted with, served on advisory boards, or done investigator training for Ovid Therapeutics, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and Sanofi Pharmaceuticals. C.E. has received current and/or past research support from the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Defense, the United States Centers for Disease Control, the John Merck Fund, Autism Speaks, the Simons Foundation, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, the FRAXA Research Foundation, the National Fragile X Foundation, the Roche Group, Seaside Therapeutics, Novartis, Neuren, Alcobra, the State of Ohio, Indiana University School of Medicine, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation. He is a past consultant to Alcobra, the Roche Group, Fulcrum Therapeutics, and Novartis. He is a current consultant to Lenire Bioscience and Stalicla. He holds equity interest in and is a consultant for Confluence Pharmaceuticals. He is the inventor on intellectual property held by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Indiana University describing methods for diagnosis and treatment methods in autism spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome. H.A., T.-H.C., C.C., and C.B. report no conflicts of interest. Funding: This publication was supported by cooperative agreement numbers U01DD000231, U19DD000753, and U01DD001189, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Keywords
- Aberrant Behavior Checklist
- Confirmatory factor analysis
- Exploratory factor analysis
- Fragile X syndrome
- Norms for Aberrant Behavior Checklist
- Socially withdrawn behavior
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pharmacology (medical)
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health