A - 177 The Self-Concept Scale of Conners Adult Rating Scale in the Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults.

Abstract

Self-report scales are beneficial in identifying symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in adults (Hayashi et al., 2021; Hull et al., 2019). Symptoms of ASD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) overlap significantly even without dual-diagnosis (Nakagawa et al., 2021). The Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS) is a reliable and valid screening tool when identifying ADHD in adults, 78% sensitivity and 56% specificity (Abbass et al., 2021). Distinguishing features of ASD include restricted repetitive behaviors (RRB) and social interaction and communication deficits (SIC) (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). In adults, CAARS has shown a moderate correlation of RRB with the inattention (IA) and hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI) of ADHD; SIC moderately correlates with IA and mildly with HI. This study explores group differences when comparing Self-Concept (SC) Scale of CAARS in those diagnosed with ASD from clinical comparisons. Data composed of 93 adult participants, 7 diagnosed with ASD, were extracted from a midwest neuropsychological outpatient clinic and analyzed to determine the sensitivity of CAARS-SC in diagnosing ASD. Independent t-Test identified no significant effect for diagnosis, t(91) = -0.301, p = 0.764, despite those in the ASD group (M = 62.00, SD = 12.432) endorsing more concerns than those without the diagnosis (M = 60.47, SD = 12.996). This study did not identify significant group differences on the CAARS-SC when comparing those diagnosed with ASD to the clinical comparisons. Further implications and limitations will be explored to distinguish ASD from overlapping diagnoses to employ appropriate treatment and future psychometric research directions.