Despite the changing racial/ethnic demographics in the United States, few studies exist that evaluate autism spectrum disorder (ASD) screening and diagnostic assessment measures for their cultural and linguistic responsiveness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structure of the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS) in a diverse sample of parents with children (nonclinical sample) between the ages of 6 and 18 years ( N = 405). Confirmatory factor analyses, factor correlations, and the evaluation of item loadings were used to examine the structure of the ASRS across cultural groups. Results yielded cross-cultural differences. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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Social communication and interaction deficits are a diagnostic criteria of autism and integral to practitioner and researcher conceptualization. Culture is an influential factor in expectations for, and demonstration of, social communication and interaction skills, but there is limited research published in autism journals on this topic. This paucity of autism research examining cultural factors related to social communication and interaction may contribute to known identification disparities for racial and ethnic populations minoritized by systemic factors and research bias. We call for increased commitment from researchers to recruit racially and ethnically minoritized participants, prioritize investigating cultural expectations and perceptions of social communication and interaction, and evaluate measures related to social communication for cultural and linguistic responsivity. Lay Summary A diagnosis of autism requires the presence of deficits in social communication and interaction. Examples of these behaviors and skills include holding a back‐and‐forth conversation, the use of nonverbal communicative behaviors (e.g., gestures), and developing and maintaining social relationships. Culture influences the expectations for, and presentation of, these behaviors. However, research on this topic is lacking. Conducting more research related to culture and social communication could help reduce the disparities in autism identification across racially and ethnically minoritized populations.

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Although the racial/ethnic demographics in the United States are changing, few studies evaluate the cultural and linguistic responsiveness of commonly used autism spectrum disorder screening and diagnostic assessment measures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate item and test functioning of the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS) in a sample of racially/ethnically diverse parents of children (nonclinical) between the ages of 6–18 ( N = 806). This study is a follow-up to a prior publication examining the factor structure of the ASRS among a similar sample. The present study furthers the examination of measurement invariance of the ASRS in racially/ethnically diverse populations by conducting differential item functioning and differential test functioning with a larger sample. Results indicate test-level invariance; however, five items are noninvariant across parent reporters from different racial/ethnic groups. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Although the prevalence of autism continues to rise, identification disparities across race/ethnicity and gender persist in schools. The under- and overidentification of specific populations receiving special education services under the classification of autism contribute to misappropriation or lack of intervention services for students. Practicing school psychologists ( N = 229) reviewed one of eight vignettes depicting a student displaying possible autism symptoms that varied only by student race/ethnicity and gender. Afterward, they rated the likelihood that they would consider the classification of autism and their confidence in that likelihood rating. School psychologists were more likely to consider an autism classification for Asian female students than Latinx female students. Confidence in likelihood ratings was higher for Asian students than Black students. School psychologists endorsed specific attention to student problem behaviors with minimal notice of possible contributing cultural and linguistic factors. The results highlight that potential implicit biases and lack of cultural consideration play a role in the identification of autism in schools, which may contribute to the nationally documented race/ethnicity and gender identification disparities. Lay Abstract Autism prevalence has continued to rise in recent years. However, females and children from Black, Latinx, and Asian backgrounds are often misidentified or identified less often than White males. These identification disparities make it difficult for children to receive appropriate special education and school intervention services. In this study, school psychologists read a vignette featuring a student with possible autism symptoms. The vignette varied by student race/ethnicity and gender. Afterward, participants rated the likelihood that they would classify the student with autism and their confidence in this rating. Student race/ethnicity and gender influenced both classification likelihood and confidence. These results suggest that school psychologists are influenced by implicit bias and do not fully consider cultural factors in school autism evaluations. This may contribute to identification disparities.