Dimensional Approach to the Conceptualization and Measurement of the Broad Autism Phenotype

The present dissertation has converged the knowledge of three fundamental areas of psychology: cognitive psychology, psychobiology, and psychometrics with the purpose of improving the operational and relational definitions of the broad autism phenotype (BAP) and its measurement process. Especially, it lies essence in psychometrics and its role in reconnecting how people show certain milder autistic behaviours with a theoretical and psychometric model capable of representing an operationalization of the construct in the Spanish and English general populations and developing a new measurement tool. This book is organized into three blocks: in the theoretical framework, we define autism (and BAP) from a dimensional perspective and expose the state of the art in its conceptualization and measurement. We finish by establishing the objectives and the research plan. The second block deepens into the empirical studies conducted during my Ph.D. apprenticeship. The first study presents the Spanish adaptation of the Broad AautismPhenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ), and the second study deepens into the BAPQ psychometric properties from the item response theory (IRT) perspective. In the third study , the ASD and BAP definitions are harmonized, and then a group of experts attempts to reshape the items of the most applied tests to assess BAP into its updated operationalization. The sixth chapter introduces the Broad Autism Phenotype-International Test (BAP-IT), which assesses the BAP two-domain operationalization in two different languages, Spanish and English. Finally, the third block exposes a general discussion of the overall results, draws certain conclusions, states the research limitations, and delineates future research approaches.