Highlights

• The CBCL is commonly used to assess co-occurring conditions in autism.
• We conducted an examination of the 8-factor factor structure.
• The eight-factor factor structure was found to be a poor fit.
• Several items did not load onto the eight-factor structure.
• The eight-factor structure of the CBCL may not be appropriate for assessing co-occurring conditions in autism.

Abstract

Background

Autistic youth often experience co-occurring psychiatric conditions. Checklist measures such as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) can assist clinicians and researchers in assessing the symptom profiles of such conditions. Symptom profiles often overlap between autism and cooccurring psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression) in which the same symptoms occur in both. Previous research investigating the validity of the CBCL in autistic populations using factor structure has been mixed**.**

Method

Seven-hundred-and-fourteen autistic youth (293 females) aged 6–18 years (M = 11.25, SD = 3.29) participated. A confirmatory factor analysis of the 8-factor CBCL-6–18 was completed.

Results

Results suggest a poor model fit in autistic samples of the widely used eight-scale factor structure.

Conclusions

This model may not fit this sample due to the overlap of symptomatology autism has with other psychiatric condition profiles (e.g., communication and behaviors). Future research and implications, including an exploratory factor analysis on the CBCL/6–18 for autistic populations, are discussed.

Keywords

Autism

Child Behavior Checklist

Factor structure