The social responsiveness scale in relation to DSM IV and DSM5 ASD in Korean children

The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is an autism rating scales in widespread use, with over 20 official foreign language translations. It has proven highly feasible for quantitative ascertainment of autistic social impairment in public health settings, however, little is known about the validity of the reinforcement in Asia populations or in references to DSM5. The current study aims to evaluate psychometric properties and cross-cultural aspects of the SRS-Korean version (K-SRS).The study subjects were ascertained from three samples: a general sample from 3 regular education elementary schools (n=790), a clinical sample (n=154) of 6–12-year-olds from four psychiatric clinics, and an epidemiological sample of children with ASD, diagnosed using both DSM IV PDD, DSM5 ASD and SCD criteria (n=151). Their parents completed the K-SRS and the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire(ASSQ). Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses and principal components analysis (PCA) were performed on the total population. Mean total scores on the K-SRS differed significantly between the three samples. ASSQ scores were significantly correlated with the K-SRS T-scores. PCA suggested a one-factor solution for the total population.Our results indicate that the K-SRS exhibits adequate reliability and validity for measuring ASD symptoms in Korean children with DSM IV PDD and DSM5 ASD. Our findings further suggest that it is difficult to distinguish SCD from other child psychiatric conditions using the K-SRS.This is the first study to examine the relationship between the SRS subscales and DSM5-based clinical diagnoses. This study provides cross-cultural confirmation of the factor structure for ASD symptoms and traits measured by the SRS. Autism Res 2016, 9: 970–980.