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J Autism Dev Disord (2007) 37:16791690 DOI 10.1007/s10803-006-0299-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
The Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire
Robert S. E. Hurley Molly Losh Morgan Parlier J. Steven Reznick Joseph Piven
Published online: 5 December 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006
Abstract The broad autism phenotype (BAP) is a set of personality and language characteristics that reect the phenotypic expression of the genetic liability to autism, in non-autistic relatives of autistic individuals. These characteristics are milder but qualitatively similar to the dening features of autism. A new instrument designed to measure the BAP in adults, the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ), was administered to 86 parents of autistic individuals and 64 community control parents. Sensitivity and specicity of the BAPQ for detecting the BAP were high (>70%). Parents of children with autism had significantly higher scores on all three subscales: aloof personality, rigid personality, and pragmatic language. This instrument provides a valid and efcient measure for characterizing the BAP.
Keywords Autism Broad autism phenotype Assessment
Introduction
Autism is a behavioral syndrome dened by the presence of social and communication decits; ritual-
istic, repetitive behaviors; and a characteristic course. Family and twin studies showing a high recurrence risk and heritability, respectively, have strongly implicated hereditary factors in the etiology of this condition. Folstein and Rutter (1977) used twin data to suggest that the vulnerability for autism may be inherited as milder traits, qualitatively similar to the dening features of autism. This milder expression of the underlying genetic liability for autism, as manifest in non-autistic relatives of autistic individuals, has come to be known as the broad autism phenotype (BAP).
In his detailed prose descriptions of autistic individuals and their families, Kanner (1943) was the rst to note that a number of parents of autistic children were serious minded, perfectionistic individuals, with an intense interest in abstract ideas who appeared to lack a genuine interest in developing relationships with others. In their twin study of autism, on the basis of nding a higher concordance rate for a BAP characterized by selected cognitive decits, Folstein and Rutter (1977) proposed the idea that the genetic liability for autism might be expressed in non-autistic relatives in characteristics that were milder but qualitatively similar to those seen in autism. Studies from several independent research...