Çocukların Sosyal Anlayış Ölçeği-kısa formunun psikometrik özelliklerinin otizmli çocuklar üzerinden incelenmesi

Researchers have examined theory of mind (ToM) via individual assessments, depending on participants' behavioral performance. Recently, Tahiroğlu and colleagues developed a parent-report, the Children's Social Understanding Scale (CSUS), to assess fine-tuned individual differences in children's ToM. The CSUS has been found reliable and valid in measuring ToM of typically developing preschool-aged children in North America (Tahiroğlu et al., 2014) and Turkey (Tahiroğlu & Yağmurlu, 2014). Another group where ToM has been widely examined is individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who have varying degrees of difficulty in understanding others' mental states. However, using individual assessments to measure ToM can be problematic in ASD, since the behavioral tasks are complex, have significant linguistic and cognitive demands, and are not good at revealing nuanced individual differences. In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of the short form of the CSUS in ToM assessment of children with ASD in Turkey. The participants were 106 children with ASD (Mage = 12.06 years, SD = 2.91) and their parents. Children's ToM was measured via the CSUS and behavioral assessments: one low-verbal and one first-order ToM task. Their ASD severity level, receptive language, nonverbal intelligence, emotion recognition, and social competence were also measured to analyze the validity of the CSUS. Reliability analysis revealed very high internal consistency for the CSUS. The CSUS score was negatively associated with children's ASD severity level and positively associated with low-verbal ToM performance, receptive language, nonverbal intelligence, and social competence. When children's ASD severity level and receptive language were controlled, the associations among the CSUS score and behaviorally measured ToM scores were non-significant. Hierarchical regression analysis was also used to test the predictive value of children's ASD severity level, receptive language, nonverbal intelligence, emotion recognition, and social competence on their CSUS score. The results revealed that better receptive language and higher social competence were significantly associated with higher CSUS score. The findings showed that the CSUS is a reliable and valid tool in measuring ToM of children with ASD in Turkey.