Development and Validation of a Novel Self-Report Measure of Monotropism in Autistic and Non-Autistic People: The Monotropism Questionnaire

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Garau, V., Murray, A. L., Woods, R., Chown, N., Hallett, S., Murray, F., Wood, R., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2023). Development and Validation of a Novel Self-Report Measure of Monotropism in Autistic and Non-Autistic People: The Monotropism Questionnaire [Preprint]. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/ft73y

Publication date: 14 Jun 2023 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Preprint Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
8
Publication authors identified as autistic
4 / 8 (50.0%)
  1. Valeria Garau
  2. Aja Louise Murray
  3. Richard Woods *
  4. Nicholas Chown *
  1. Sonny Hallett *
  2. Fergus Murray *
  3. Rebecca Wood
  4. Sue Fletcher-Watson

Abstract

Monotropism seeks to explain autism in terms of attention distribution and interests. Despite having strong subjective validity to autistic people, and potential to explain the overlap between autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), it has been little investigated formally. This is in large part due to lack of reliable and valid measures to capture the construct. In this study, we aimed to develop and validate a novel self-report measure, the Monotropism Questionnaire (MQ), in autistic and non-autistic people. The MQ consists of 47 items, which were generated by a group of autistic adults based on their lived experience and academic expertise. A sample of 1,110 participants (756 autistic, 354 non-autistic) completed the MQ online, as well as two established, short measures of autism, the Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-14 (RAADS-14) and the Autism Quotient-10 (AQ-10). Exploratory factor analyses suggested an 8-dimensional structure was optimal and the subscale scores showed high internal consistency reliability. The measure had very good convergent validity with the RAADS-14 and AQ-10 (all rs >.61). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism status were both significantly associated with higher mean monotropism scores. Overall, the MQ had good psychometric properties. Future research should be undertaken to test this finding, particularly across demographic and diagnostic groups, and apply the MQ to predictions of Monotropism theory.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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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: 2 Oct 2026 13:59.

Cited references
36
With a DOI
34
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
12 / 36 (33.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 36 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
36 / 36 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
114
From DOI or external metadata
114
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
56 / 114 (49.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 58 / 114 (50.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
18 / 114 (15.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 18 / 56 (32.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 13 / 107 (12.1%).
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