Cross-Cultural Views of Autism: How Latino and Anglo Parents Report Symptoms of ASD

Background: Though ethnic and racial disparities have been reported in both diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders, few studies have explored potential differences in how parents of varying cultural backgrounds perceive symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most have relied on hypotheses of socioeconomic and access barriers to explain findings, or cultural explanations for the less frequent reporting of symptoms and lower rates of ASD diagnosis among Latino children. Our 2014 published study of 83 families found that although Anglo mothers reported more developmental concerns, Latino children obtained higher severity scores on standardized measures of ASD.

Objectives: The current study was designed to extend our previous findings using a larger sample of Anglo and Latino families collected from a free screening clinic at the University of California, Riverside. We compared how mothers reported current concerns (22 autism-related questions) and ASD symptoms, in relation to their child’s performance on standardized measures of ASD.

Methods:  One-way ANOVAs were conducted (corrected for multiple comparisons where applicable).

Results: Using a sample of 181 families (n = 61 Anglo, n = 120 Latino), Anglo parents reported a significantly higher number of total current concerns compared to Latino parents F(1,179) = 15.94, p < .000. Using ADOS scores, children were sorted by categories of “non-spectrum”, “autism spectrum” or “autism”. No significant differences were observed in either ADOS domains for children who scored into the “autism spectrum” category. For children in the “autism” category (n = 25 Anglo, n = 28 Latino), Latino children scored significantly higher on both the social affect (p < .000) and restricted and repetitive behavior (p =.002) domains. Parent-reported levels of autism symptomology were available from 96 families (n = 49 Anglo, n = 47 Latino). Latino parents reported higher levels of autism symptoms versus Anglo parents for all five subscales (all ps < .029). Note that SRS measures were not scored until after the ADOS took place. Anglo and Latino families did not differ on reported level of income (p > .1). However, Anglo parents were significantly more likely to have received a Bachelor’s Degree or higher compared to Latino parents (p < .000).

Conclusions: These data support the finding that Anglo and Latino parents differ in their perceptions of their children’s symptomology. Latino parents reported more severe symptoms on the SRS in all domains, yet Anglo parents reported more current concerns during the interview. Finally, results from the ADOS suggest that Latino children who met ASD criteria scored significantly higher than Anglo children on both ADOS domains. Latino parents may not have been aware that the challenging behaviors or the lack of social awarenss that they observed in their child were related to ASD. Yet when asked directly about the frequency of behaviors (via the SRS), Latino parents reported more severe symptoms of ASD, consistent with examiners’ observations on the ADOS. These findings provide evidence that regardless of SES, cultural context may affect how parents perceive autism symptoms, and is an important consideration when interpreting parent-report measures.