Gender Differences: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the ADOS-II

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Metadata sources used for this reference

OpenAlex Crossref PubMed OpenCitations
Learn more about the sources used

Tien, I. S., Kim, J., Johnson, A. R., & Wood, J. J. (2024). Gender Differences: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the ADOS-II. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 56(5), 2072-2076. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06346-x

Publication date: 23 Apr 2024 Added to AutiHub: 17 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Ingrid S. Tien *
  2. Junok Kim
  3. Amanda R. Johnson
  4. Jeffrey J. Wood

Abstract

PURPOSE: Recent research has suggested that autism may present differently in girls compared to boys, encouraging the exploration of a sex-differential diagnostic criteria. Gender differences in diagnostic assessments have been shown on the ADOS-II, such that, on average, females score significantly lower than males on all scales and are less likely to show atypicality on most items related to social communicative difficulties. Yet, gender differences in the latent structure of instruments like the ADOS-II have not been examined systematically. METHODS: As such, this secondary data analysis examined 4,100 youth diagnosed with autism (Mage = 9.9, 813 female & 3287 male) examined item response trends by gender on the ADOS-II Module 3. RESULTS: Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis results show that the factor loadings of four ADOS-II items differ across the genders. One SCD item and one RRB item are strongly related to the latent factor in the female group, while two RRB items have larger factor loadings in the male group. CONCLUSION: The assumption of an identical latent factor structure for the ADOS-II Module 3 for males and females might not be justifiable. Possible diagnostic implications are discussed.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 19 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
19
With a DOI
17
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
1
1 / 19 (5.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 19 (10.5%)
References with detected author names
18 / 19 (94.7%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
61
From DOI or external metadata
61
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
24 / 61 (39.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 37 / 61 (60.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
1 / 61 (1.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 1 / 24 (4.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 59 (1.7%).
  1. James H. Steiger (1980). Statistically based tests for the number of common factors . Medical Entomology and Zoology.
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W143399821
    OpenAlex
  2. P. M. Bentler (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 238-246. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2018201949
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  3. Ingrid S. Tien * , Amanda R. Johnson , Junok Kim , Jeffrey J. Wood (2025). Examining Diagnostic Trends and Gender Differences in the ADOS-II . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 55(1), 1-9. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06191-4 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4389482626
    AutiHub · Autistic Autism Scholarship Project Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  4. Alycia Halladay , Somer Bishop , John N Constantino , Amy M Daniels , Katheen Koenig , Kate Palmer et al. (2015). Sex and gender differences in autism spectrum disorder: summarizing evidence gaps and identifying emerging areas of priority . Molecular Autism, 6(1), 36. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1186/s13229-015-0019-y OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1527893382
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  5. Michael W. Browne , Robert Cudeck (1992). Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit . Sociological Methods & Research, 21(2), 230-258. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/0049124192021002005 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1992193527
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  6. Herbert W. Marsh , Zhonglin Wen , Kit-Tai Hau (2004). Structural Equation Models of Latent Interactions: Evaluation of Alternative Estimation Strategies and Indicator Construction. Psychological Methods, 9(3), 275-300. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/1082-989x.9.3.275 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2010420668
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  7. Yves Rosseel (2012). lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling . Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1. Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.18637/jss.v048.i02 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1913957972
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  8. W. Holmes Finch , Brian F. French (2008). Anomalous Type I Error Rates for Identifying One Type of Differential Item Functioning in the Presence of the Other . Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68(5), 742-759. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/0013164407313370 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2019384020
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  9. Iris Oosterling , Sascha Roos , Annelies de Bildt , Nanda Rommelse , Maretha Jonge , Janne Visser et al. (2010). Improved Diagnostic Validity of the ADOS Revised Algorithms: A Replication Study in an Independent Sample . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(6), 689-703. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-009-0915-0 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2154167218
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  10. Albert Satorra (2000). Scaled and Adjusted Restricted Tests in Multi-Sample Analysis of Moment Structures . In Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics (pp. 233-247). Springer US.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4615-4603-0_17 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1940007066
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  11. Katherine Gotham , Susan Risi , Andrew Pickles , Catherine Lord (2007). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule: Revised Algorithms for Improved Diagnostic Validity . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(4), 613-627. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-006-0280-1 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1964011803
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  12. James H. Steiger (1990). Structural Model Evaluation and Modification: An Interval Estimation Approach . Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25(2), 173-180. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1207/s15327906mbr2502_4 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2163297822
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  13. Hao Wu , Ryne Estabrook (2016). Identification of Confirmatory Factor Analysis Models of Different Levels of Invariance for Ordered Categorical Outcomes . Psychometrika, 81(4), 1014-1045. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s11336-016-9506-0 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2463350095
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  14. Denisse Janvier , Yeo Bi Choi , Claire Klein , Catherine Lord , So Hyun Kim (2022). Brief Report: Examining Test-Retest Reliability of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) Calibrated Severity Scores (CSS) . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(3), 1388-1394. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-04952-7 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3146278191
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  15. Meng-Chuan Lai , Michael Lombardo , Bonnie Auyeung , Bhismadev Chakrabarti , Simon Baron-Cohen (2015). Sex/Gender Differences and Autism: Setting the Scene for Future Research . Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54(1), 11-24. Elsevier BV.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2014.10.003 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2069328123
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  16. Allison B. Ratto (2021). Commentary: What’s so special about girls on the autism spectrum? – a commentary on Kaat et al. (2020) . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62(1), 107-109. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13284 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3036816161
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  17. HM Rea (2022). Rea, H. M., Øien, R. A., Shic, F., et al. (2022). Sex differences on the ADOS-2. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders https://doi.org/10 . 1007/s10803-022-05566-3. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1007/s10803-02205566-3
    Crossref
  18. Steiger, J. H., & Lind, J. C. (1980). Statistically-based tests for the number of common factors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychometric Society, Iowa City, IA.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  19. Hannah M. Rea , Roald A. Øien , Frederick Shic , Sara Jane Webb , Allison B. Ratto (2023). Sex Differences on the ADOS-2 . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(7), 2878-2890. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05566-3 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4224237433
    OpenAlex