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Construct Validity of the Autism Impact Measure (AIM)

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Abstract

The Autism Impact Measure (AIM) was designed to track incremental change in frequency and impact of core ASD symptoms. The current study examined the structural and convergent validity of the AIM in a large sample of children with ASD. The results of a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a final model with five theoretically and empirically meaningful subdomains: Repetitive Behavior, Atypical Behavior, Communication, Social Reciprocity, and Peer Interaction. The final model showed very good fit both overall and for each of the five factors, indicating excellent structural validity. AIM subdomain scores were significantly correlated with measures of similar constructs across all five domains. The results provide further support for the psychometric properties of the AIM.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are extremely grateful to all the families who participated in this study. We would also like to thank Nicole Takahashi, MS, and the entire study team for assistance with project coordination and implementation and Christopher Barr, PhD, for his assistance with data analysis. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MH097726 awarded to Micah Mazurek. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MH097726. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Author notes

  1. Micah O. Mazurek

    Present address: Department of Human Services, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, 417 Emmet Street South, PO Box 400267, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Coleen Carlson

  2. Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Autism Discovery Institute, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA

    Mary Baker-Ericzén

  3. Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Eric Butter & Megan Norris

  4. Child Development Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Eric Butter & Megan Norris

  5. Department of Health Psychology, Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Micah O. Mazurek & Stephen Kanne

Authors
  1. Micah O. Mazurek
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  2. Coleen Carlson
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Contributions

MOM conceived of the study, oversaw coordination and data collection, participated in interpretation of data and results, and drafted the manuscript. CC participated in the study design, oversaw data management, conducted the statistical analyses, and helped to draft the manuscript. MBE participated in design and coordination of the study, oversaw data collection, participated in interpretation of the results, and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript. EB participated in design and coordination of the study, oversaw data collection, and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript. MN participated in coordination and data collection, and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript. SK participated in design and coordination of the study, participated in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Micah O. Mazurek.

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Conflict of interest

Drs. Mazurek and Kanne will receive royalties from Western Psychological Services for the Autism Impact Measure. Drs. Carlson, Baker-Ericzén, Butter, and Norris declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mazurek, M.O., Carlson, C., Baker-Ericzén, M. et al. Construct Validity of the Autism Impact Measure (AIM). J Autism Dev Disord 50, 2307–2319 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3462-8

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