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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Mar 10;54(5):1820–1833. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-05931-w

Table 2.

SCQ Non-uniform DIF for White vs. African American/Black in the study to explore early development

SCQ Item β OR Sig (p) Benjamini-Hochberg critical value Lower 95% CI Upper 95% CI
2. Do you have a to and fro “conversation” with her/him that involves taking turns or building on what you have said? 0.02 1.02 .420 0.03 0.973 1.068
*3. Does she/he ever use odd phrases or say the same thing over and over in almost exactly the same way (either phrases that she/he hears other people use or ones that she/he makes up)? 0.10 1.10 < .001 < .001 1.050 1.155
4. Does she/he ever use socially inappropriate questions or statements? For example, does she/he ever regularly ask personal questions or make personal comments at awkward times? 0.01 1.01 .413 0.03 0.983 1.041
*5. Does she/he ever get her/his pronouns mixed up (e.g. saying you or she/he for I)? 0.05 1.05 .003 0.01 1.015 1.079
6. Does she/he ever use words that she/he seems to have invented or made up her/himself; put things in odd, indirect ways; or use metaphorical ways of saying things (e.g., saying hot rain for steam)? 0.01 1.01 .573 0.04 0.980 1.038
7. Does she/he ever say the same thing over and over in exactly the same way or insist that you say the same thing over and over again? 0.05 1.05 .023 0.02 1.007 1.099
*8. Does she/he ever have things that she/he seems to have to do in a very particular way or order or rituals that she he/insists that you go through? 0.04 1.04 .015 0.02 1.007 1.068
*9. Does her/his facial expression usually seem appropriate to the particular situation, as far as you can tell? 0.05 1.05 .006 0.01 1.014 1.089
10. Does she/he ever use your hand like a tool or as if it were a part of her/his own body (e.g., pointing with your finger or putting your hand on a doorknob to get you to open the door)? 0.02 1.02 .276 0.03 0.986 1.050
*11. Does she/he ever have any interests that preoccupy her/him and might seem odd to other people (e.g., traffic lights, drainpipes, or timetables)? 0.05 1.05 .004 0.01 1.017 1.093
12. Does she/he ever seem to be more interested in parts of a toy or an object (e.g., spinning the wheels of a car), rather than in using the object as it was intended? −0.02 0.98 .311 0.03 0.947 1.018
13. Does she/he ever have any special interests that are unusual in their intensity but otherwise appropriate for her/his age and peer group (e.g., trains or dinosaurs)? 0.01 1.01 .442 0.04 0.982 1.043
14. Does she/he ever seem to be unusually interested in the sight, feel, sound, taste, or smell of things or people? 0.03 1.03 .046 0.02 1.001 1.065
15. Does she/he ever have any mannerisms or odd ways of moving her/his hands or fingers, such as flapping or moving her/his fingers in front of her/his eyes? 0.001 1.00 .940 0.05 0.966 1.039
16. Does she/he ever have any complicated movements of her/his whole body, such as spinning or repeatedly bouncing up and down? 0.01 1.01 .676 0.04 0.975 1.041
17. Does she/he ever injure her/himself deliberately, such as by biting her/his arm or banging her/his head? 0.02 1.02 .296 0.03 0.985 1.053
18. Does she/he ever have any objects (other than a soft toy or comfort blanket) that she/he has to carry around? −0.01 1.00 .726 0.04 0.966 1.024
*19. Does she/he have any particular friends or a best friend? 0.04 1.04 .006 0.01 1.011 1.068
20. Does she/he ever talk with you just to be friendly (rather than to get something)? 0.02 1.02 .421 0.03 0.979 1.053
21. Does she/he ever spontaneously copy you (or other people) or what you are doing (such a vacuuming, gardening, or mending things)? 0.01 1.01 .293 0.03 0.989 1.037
*22. Does she/he ever spontaneously point at things around her/him just to show you things (not because she/he wants them)? 0.05 1.05 <.001 <.001 1.024 1.078
*23. Does she/he ever use gestures, other than pointing or pulling your hand, to let you know what she/he wants? 0.04 1.04 <.001 <.001 1.017 1.063
*24. Does she/he nod her/his head to indicate yes? 0.07 1.07 <.001 0.01 1.038 1.103
*25. Does she/he shake her/his head to indicate no? 0.07 1.07 <.001 0.01 1.036 1.098
26. Does she/he usually look at you directly in the face when doing things with you or talking with you? 0.002 1.00 .926 0.05 0.969 1.035
27. Does she/he smile back if someone smiles at her/him? 0.03 1.03 .150 0.03 0.989 1.073
28. Does she/he ever show you things that interest her/him to engage your attention? 0.001 1.00 .965 0.05 0.947 1.059
29. Does she/he ever offer to share things other than food with you? 0.01 1.01 .646 0.04 0.971 1.049
30. Does she/he ever seem to want you to join in her/his enjoyment of something? 0.01 1.01 .792 0.04 0.958 1.058
31. Does she/he ever try to comfort you if you are sad or hurt? −0.01 0.99 .758 0.04 .954 1.035
*32. If she he wants something or wants help, does she/he look at you and use gestures when sounds or words to get your attention? 0.05 1.05 .011 0.02 1.011 1.085
33. Does she/he show a normal range of facial expressions? −0.05 0.95 .073 0.02 0.903 1.005
34. Does she/he ever spontaneously join in and try to copy the actions in social games, such as The Mulberry Bush or London Bridge is Falling Down? 0.04 1.04 .023 0.02 1.006 1.080
*35. Does she/he play any pretend or make-believe games? 0.04 1.05 .004 0.01 1.014 1.077
36. Does she/he seem interested in other children of approximately the same age whom she/he does not know? 0.001 1.00 .950 0.05 0.966 1.038
37. Does she/he respond positively when another child approaches her/him? −0.03 0.97 .083 0.02 0.930 1.004
38. If you come into a room and start talking to her/him without calling her/his name, does she/he usually look up and pay attention to you? 0.03 1.03 .132 0.02 0.992 1.066
*39. Does she/he ever play imaginative games with another child in such a way that you can tell that each child understands what the other is pretending? 0.05 1.05 .004 0.01 1.016 1.090
40. Does she/he play cooperatively in games that need some form of joining in with a group of other children, such as hide-and-seek or ball games? 0.01 1.01 .692 0.04 0.969 1.049

SCQ Social Communication Questionnaire; DIF Differential Item Functioning; OR Odds Ratio; Sig (p) Significance Level; CI Confidence Interval

Item 1 of the SCQ not included in table as is not used in calculation of total SCQ Score

Uniform DIF indicates that there is a consistently higher or lower probability for one group to endorse an item in comparison to another group at all levels of the underlying latent trait. Nonuniform DIF indicates that there is an interaction between the likelihood to endorse the item and group membership by total score on the measured trait

*

Indicate statistically significant based on the BH correction. To determine significance corrected for inflation of alpha, the p-values are compared to the BH critical value. p-values that are less than the BH critical value are considered significant at the .05 level while correcting for the false discovery rate