Psychol Trauma. 2025 Sep 15. doi: 10.1037/tra0002007. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Sources and symptoms of traumatic stress may vary in autistic versus nonautistic youth and be challenging to assess given phenotypic overlap; nonetheless, there is a dearth of autism-tailored measures.
METHOD: The Childhood Adversity and Social Stress Questionnaire-Parent Report (CASSQ-PR) was developed to assess stressful experiences (SE) and subsequent traumatic stress symptom (TSS) within the context of autism and tested in an online community sample of parents of autistic youth (N = 729; 8-17 years; 80% male; recruited February-December 2018) with communicative speech.
RESULTS: Per parent report, autistic youth experienced ≥ 2 SE in traditionally assessed (52.7%) and autism-nominated categories (i.e., derived from mixed method research with autistic individuals and caregivers; 58.3%); 39.5% (n = 288) of parents completed the CASSQ-TSS subscale. Bullying, stigma, sensory, change, and interaction-related stress were the most commonly endorsed SE. The CASSQ-SE subscale correlated positively with Child Behavior Checklist Total Problems, with both traditional and autism-nominated SE contributing to variance explained (supporting concurrent and incremental validity). Bivariate correlations demonstrated stronger convergence between the CASSQ-PR-TSS and parent-report Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale, than the Child Behavior Checklist externalizing subscale, supporting convergent and discriminant validity. Factor structure supported a second-order, four-factor, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition posttraumatic stress disorder model per confirmatory factor analysis; however, exploratory structural equation modeling suggested some adaptations to remove low-loading items, reduce item cross-loading, and enhance model fit.
CONCLUSIONS: The CASSQ-PR offers a valid estimate of SE and TSS as observed by parents in verbally communicative, school-age autistic youth; however, further research with more sociodemographically diverse and clinical samples is warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
PMID:40952668 | DOI:10.1037/tra0002007
