Different Tools, Different Results: Comparing Methods for Bullying Assessment in Autistic and ADHD Youth

Autistic and ADHD youth face heightened risk of peer victimization and subsequent poor educational and mental health outcomes. Yet, bullying interventions have had limited success in these groups, potentially due to variability in bullying assessment methods across studies. Additionally, general tools validated for community samples may fail to capture the unique victimization experiences of these youth. This study evaluated the agreement and sensitivity of three bullying assessment methods—a single-item assessment, the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ), and the disability-specific Assessment of Bullying Experiences (ABE)—and examined group differences in victimization risk. Caregivers of 516 autistic, ADHD, and community youth completed all three bullying assessments. Agreement across measures was examined overall and within groups using percent agreement, Cohen’s kappa and McNemar’s tests. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate group differences in bullying classification within each measure. Agreement between the OBQ and ABE was moderate overall, but weaker in each of the autism and ADHD groups. The single-item assessment underestimated bullying prevalence compared to multi-item questionnaires and also failed to detect any between-group differences. Youth with ADHD were nearly three times more likely to be bulled compared to community youth when measured by both the ABE (OR = 2.81; 95% CI [1.34, 5.92]) and the OBQ (OR = 2.76; 95% CI [1.37, 5.57]) whereas increased vulnerability for autistic youth with co-occurring ADHD was only identified by the ABE (OR = 2.34; 95% CI [1.42, 3.85]). Findings highlight the limitations of single-item assessments and general measures in capturing disability-specific bullying. By including disability-specific behaviors, the ABE provides greater sensitivity for assessing bullying in autistic and ADHD youth. Integrating theory-driven frameworks may further improve assessment and intervention approaches for understanding and addressing bullying risk in autistic and ADHD youth.