Factor Analysis of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Exploratory factor analysis (varimax and promax rotations) of the aberrant behavior checklist-community version (ABC) in 275 individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identified four- and five-factor solutions which accounted for >70% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis (Lisrel 8.7) revealed indices of moderate fit for the five-factor solution. Our results suggest that the factor structure of the ABC is robust within an ASD sample. Both solutions yielded a three items self-injury factor. Stratifying on this factor, we identified significant differences between the high- and low-self injury groups on ABC subscales. The emergence of a self-injury factor, while not suggestive of a new subscale, warrants further exploration as a tool that could help dissect relevant neurobiobehavioral groups in ASD.

Gastrointestinal Symptoms in a Sample of Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

“…By contrast, we did not find higher scores for social problems domain on the ADI-R. Given previous findings that behaviors measured by the ABC subscales are not highly correlated with ADI-R symptom composites, this seeming discrepancy is not surprising (Lecavalier et al 2006;Brinkley et al 2007). …”

Relaxation Response–Based Yoga Improves Functioning in Young Children with Autism: A Pilot Study

“…Internal structural and validity properties of the test have been well demonstrated in children with developmental delays, including ASD. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] Scores on the Irritability scale of the ABC were a priori identified as the scale of interest, as changes on this scale have become the ''gold standard'' for establishing the efficacy of medications for behavioral symptoms of children with an ASD.…”

“…Because of (1) the trend toward significance for the ABC Irritability Scale as reviewed in the Results Section below and (2) the importance of this particular scale in the assessment of behavioral changes in autism, [36][37][38] an aggregate score was computed for the ABC Irritability Scale and the BASC-2 Scales that evidenced significant post-treatment changes. This was done by averaging the T-scale value for the combination of the ABC Irritability scale and the scales that significantly changed on the BASC-2 (from Table 2; see Results below).…”

Efficacy of the Get Ready to Learn Yoga Program Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pretest–Posttest Control Group Design

“…The ABC-Community is an outcome measure commonly used in intervention trials for children with ASD (McCracken et al, 2002;Pandina, Bossie, Youssef, Zhu, & Dunbar, 2007) and retained its original factor structure when used specifically with a sample of children with ASD (Brinkley et al, 2007). The ABC-Community is a 58-item checklist that yields five subscales: Irritability/ Agitation/Crying, Lethargy/Social Withdrawal, Stereotypic Behavior, Hyperactivity/Noncompliance, and Inappropriate Speech.…”