On the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ)Japanese Version (1) : Validity for Junior-high-school Students,High-school Students and Undergraduates and the Relation of AQ Score to Self-image and Internal Working Models

The Japanese version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ)(Baron-Cohen et al.,2001)was developed first. The purpose of the present study was to examine its validity for adolescence with normal intelligence and to show whether AQ score is related to the self-image or the internal working models. The developed AQ Japanese version, Image Question (IMQ ; Umemoto et al., 1974) and Internal Working Model Scale(IWMS ; Takuma & Toda,1988), were administered to 250 junior-high-school students, 361 high-school students and 603 undergraduates. In results, the AQ scores of the participants were distributed as the spectrum hypothesis suggested. Participants with cut-off scores for AQ were occupied one per cent as same as the occurrence ratio for the autism. Compared to the middle AQ score group,the high score group showed higher ambivalent score and higher avoidant score for IWMS. It was suggested that the students with high AQ score have the negative self-images.