Ask autistic adolescents too: informant discrepancies and test-retest reliability in social behavior

Assumptions about autistic youths' inability to accurately self-report their own behavior have limited what is known about adolescent-parent informant discrepancies. Across two randomized controlled trials, autistic adolescents (10-18 years) and their parents independently reported on adolescents' social skills and problem behaviors approximately 2-3 months apart. Test-retest reliability was evaluated among control-condition dyads (N = 40). Adolescent reports demonstrated moderate test-retest reliability across both domains. There were no group differences in reporting of social skills. Regarding problem behavior, adolescents reporting lower scores were more likely to report an increase over time, and those with higher scores a decrease over time. Parent reports were moderately reliable. They reported a systematic decrease in problem behavior over time; however, parents reporting higher problem behavior overall were more likely to report an increase in these behaviors over time. Using baseline data from all dyads (N = 81), we observed poor association and agreement between adolescent and parent reports in both domains. Adolescents reported more social skills and fewer problem behaviors than did their parents; the social skills discrepancy widened as scores increased. These findings challenge the assumption that autistic adolescents are unreliable reporters of their own behavior and suggest that including their self-reports alongside parent reports may provide unique, clinically meaningful information about social functioning during adolescence.