Factors That May Influence Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) Scores: An Examination of the Spanish and English SCQ in School-Aged Students

Abstract

This study examined child and family factors that may influence the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in English- and Spanish-speaking samples. A total of 199 English- or Spanish-speaking mothers completed the SCQ. Results indicated that Spanish-speaking mothers with limited educational attainment were more likely to report higher scores on the SCQ than those with higher educational attainment. Moreover, differences in response patterns were also observed between Spanish- and English-speaking mothers. That is, SCQ scores tended to be influenced by maternal education in the Spanish-speaking sample and by teachers’ reports of behavior/emotional problems in the English-speaking sample. These findings suggest that when using the SCQ, researchers, clinicians, and school providers need to be mindful that a high score on the SCQ does not necessarily indicate autism symptoms or characteristics. Rather, high SCQ scores might represent factors unrelated to autism symptoms, such as child and family characteristics. IMPACT STATEMENT The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), an autism spectrum disorder screener, was administered to English- or Spanish-speaking mothers of school-aged children. Results from this study showed that the SCQ scores should be interpreted with caution when used with diverse students and students with emotional and behavior problems. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1927830