Known‐groups and convergent validity of the theory of mind task battery in children with autism spectrum disorder

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Gosling, C. J., Cartigny, A., Stevanovic, D., Moutier, S., Delorme, R., & Attwood, T. (2023). Known‐groups and convergent validity of the theory of mind task battery in children with autism spectrum disorder. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(2), 525-535. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12420

Publication date: 6 Apr 2023 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)
  1. Corentin J. Gosling
  2. Ariane Cartigny
  3. Dejan Stevanovic
  1. Sylvain Moutier
  2. Richard Delorme
  3. Tony Attwood *

Abstract

Abstract Objectives One of the most promising Theory of Mind (ToM) tests developed for children with ASD is the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM‐TB). Still, additional psychometric properties of this tool need to be assessed. The main objective of this preregistered study was to investigate the known‐groups and convergent validities of the ToM‐TB compared to a well‐established test used to assess ToM in children with ASD (the Strange Stories Test; SST ). Methods A total of 68 school‐aged children were recruited (34 children with ASD and 34 children with typical development). The groups were matched on sex and age, and on both receptive language abilities and overall cognitive functioning. Results Regarding the known‐groups validity, we found group differences in the performance on the ToM‐TB and SST. Additional analyses revealed that this result tended to be more robust for the ToM‐TB than for the SST. Regarding convergent validity, we showed that the ToM‐TB and SST correlated strongly, for children with ASD and children with typical development. In contrast, we found small correlations of these two tests with social competence in daily life. No evidence was found for greater known‐groups or convergent validity of one test compared to the other. Conclusion Our data confirmed the relevance of the ToM‐TB and the SST for the assessment of ToM in school‐aged children. Future studies should continue to assess the psychometric qualities of various ToM tests to provide reliable information to best guide researchers and clinicians when choosing optimal neuropsychological tools.

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Cited references
47
With a DOI
38
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
9
0 / 47 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 47 (4.3%)
References with detected author names
45 / 47 (95.7%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
8
References with raw author names still to review
2
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
164
From DOI or external metadata
164
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
30 / 164 (18.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 134 / 164 (81.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 164 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 30 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 147 (0.0%).
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