The validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Purpose. - The current paper focused on the validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). To assess this we sought responses to two alexithymia self-teports and a depression self-report at two time points from adults with and without ASD. Materials and methods. - An initial sample of 27 adults with ASD and 35 normal adults completed the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), the Bermond and Vorst alexithymia questionnaire-form B (BVAQ-B), and the Beck depression inventory (BDI), at test time 1. Of these individuals. 19 ASD and 29 controls participated again after a period ranging from 4 to 12 months. Results. - ASD participants were able to report about their own emotions using self-reports. BVAQ-B showed reasonable convergent validity and test-retest reliability in both groups. Scores oil both alexithymia scales were stable across the two participant groups. However, results revealed that although the TAS-20 total score discriminated between the two groups at both time points, the BVAQ-B total score did not. Moreover, the TAS-20 showed stronger test-retest reliability than the BVAQ-B. Conclusion. - ASD participants appeared more depressed and more alexithyrnic than the controls. The Use of the BVAQ-B, as all additional assessment of alexithymia, indicated that ASD patients have a specific type of alexithymia characterised by increased difficulties in the cognitive domain rather than the affective aspects of alexithymia. (c) 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.