Table 2.
Item content and loadings on the 5 domains in the best fitting structure, ordered per higher order factors and lower order domains
| Item number | Domain loading | |
|---|---|---|
| Higher order factor social interaction | ||
| Social skill | ||
| 1 | I prefer to do things with others rather than on my own | .358 |
| 11 | I find social situations easy | .718 |
| 13* | I would rather go to a library than a party | .356 |
| 15 | I find myself drawn more strongly to people than to things | .537 |
| 22* | I find it hard to make new friends | .643 |
| 36 | I find it easy to work out what someone is thinking or feeling | .450 |
| 44 | I enjoy social occasions | .748 |
| 45* | I find it difficult to work out people’s intentions | .499 |
| 47 | I enjoy meeting new people | .734 |
| 48 | I am a good diplomat | .232 |
| Attention switching | ||
| 2* | I prefer to do things the same way over and over again | .256 |
| 4* | I frequently get strongly absorbed in one thing | .186 |
| 10 | I can easily keep track of several different people’s conversations | .481 |
| 16* | I tend to have very strong interests | .172 |
| 25 | It does not upset me if my daily routine is disturbed | .366 |
| 32 | I find it easy to do more than one thing at once | .486 |
| 34 | I enjoy doing things spontaneously | .755 |
| 37 | If there is an interruption, I can switch back very quickly | .382 |
| 43* | I like to plan any activities I participate in carefully | .144 |
| 46* | New situations make me anxious | .547 |
| Communication | ||
| 7* | Other people frequently tell me that what I have said is impolite | .279 |
| 17 | I enjoy social chit-chat | .283 |
| 18* | When I talk, it isn’t always easy for others to get a word in edgeways | −.116 |
| 26* | I don’t know how to keep a conversation going | .608 |
| 27 | I find it easy to “read between the lines” | .419 |
| 31 | I know how to tell if someone listening to me is getting bored | .290 |
| 33* | When I talk on the phone, I am not sure when it’s my turn to speak | .560 |
| 35* | I am often the last to understand the point of a joke | .293 |
| 38 | I am good at social chit-chat | .463 |
| 39* | People tell me that I keep going on and on about the same thing | .209 |
| Imagination | ||
| 3 | Trying to imagine something, I find it easy to create a picture in my mind | .599 |
| 8 | Reading a story, I can easily imagine what the characters might look like | .576 |
| 14 | I find making up stories easy | .441 |
| 20* | Reading a story, I find it difficult to work out the characters’ intentions | .481 |
| 21* | I don’t particularly enjoy reading fiction | .241 |
| 24 | I would rather go to the theatre than a museum | .235 |
| 40 | When younger, I enjoyed playing games involving pretending with other children | .454 |
| 41* | I like to collect information about categories of things | .229 |
| 42* | I find it difficult to imagine what it would be like to be someone else | .380 |
| 50 | I find it easy to play games with children that involve pretending | .602 |
| Factor attention to detail | ||
| 5* | I often notice small sounds when others do not | .252 |
| 6* | I usually notice car number plates or similar strings of information | .584 |
| 9* | I am fascinated by dates | .754 |
| 12* | I tend to notice details that others do not | .148 |
| 19* | I am fascinated by numbers | .920 |
| 23* | I notice patterns in things all the time | .508 |
| 28 | I usually concentrate more on the whole picture, rather than the small details | .118 |
| 29 | I am not very good at remembering phone numbers | .120 |
| 30 | I don’t usually notice small changes in a situation, or a person’s appearance | −.135 |
| 49 | I am not very good at remembering people’s date of birth | .120 |
Note: * Designates a reverse-scored item