Cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the broad autism phenotype questionnaire in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

The broad autism phenotype describes the presence of milder autistic traits at subthreshold levels. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ-T). The sample consisted of 164 parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (P-CASD) and 81 parents of typically developing children (P-TDC). Participants completed the BAPQ-T and the Autism Quotient. Test–retest reliability was assessed after 3–4 weeks in 44 randomly selected P-CASD. The BAPQ-T, constructed based on the outcomes of the confirmatory factor analysis, supported the original 3-factor structure. Internal consistency was good for the total score (Cronbach’s α = 0.840 for self-report and 0.831 for informant-report), although it was lower for the Rigid Personality subscale (α = 0.610 and 0.525, respectively). The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.815. The significant correlation between the BAPQ-T and the Autism Quotient supported convergent validity. Regarding discriminative ability, BAPQ-T best-estimate scores differed significantly between the P-CASD and the P-TDC, whereas no significant between-group differences were observed for BAPQ-T self-report scores. Our study demonstrates that the BAPQ-T is a useful instrument for assessing BAP traits among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder.