Psychiatric Comorbidities in Autistic Adolescents Without Intellectual Impairment: A Focus on Parent- and Self-Reported Psychopathological Assessment

<b>Background:</b> Co-occurring conditions and psychiatric comorbidities are more frequently observed in autistic individuals than in typically developing populations. <b>Objective:</b> The present study aimed to investigate the agreement of parent- and self-reported psychopathological assessment using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18) and the Youth Self Report (YSR/11-18), respectively, in autistic adolescents without intellectual impairment. <b>Methods:</b> 54 autistic adolescents without intellectual impairment (11-18 years; M = 14.73; SD = 2.28) were assessed with a psychiatric and psychological evaluation conducted by expert clinicians also using self- and parent-reported scales and semi-structured interviews (K-SADS PL, CDI, MASC) including CBCL/6-18 and YSR/11-18. <b>Results:</b> According to clinical judgment, over 90% of participants had at least a comorbidity: anxiety (68.5%) and mood disorder (57.4%) were the most frequent. The results indicate significant discrepancies between parent- and self-reports across the three summary scales, which assess emotional and behavioral problems, as well as their combined presentation, often observed in youth with ASD. Specifically, differences were found in Internalizing (<i>p</i> < 0.001), Externalizing (<i>p</i> = 0.013), and Total Problems (<i>p</i> < 0.001) scales. <b>Conclusions:</b> The findings show the lack of agreement in parent- and self-reported scales in our sample. These results suggest the need for a cross- and multi-informant approach to support clinical judgment and understand psychopathological comorbidities of autistic adolescents without intellectual impairment.