The Adolescent Systemizing Spectrum Quotient (SQ) 

Ages 12­15 years

SPECIMEN, FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY.

For full details, please see:

B. Auyeung, C. Allison, S. Wheelwright, S. Baron-Cohen (2012)

Brief Report: Development of the Adolescent Empathy and Systemizing Quotients
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Name:...........................................     Sex:...........................................

Date of birth:...................................     Today’s Date.................................

How to fill out the questionnaire

Below is a list of statements about your child. Please read each statement very carefully and rate 

how strongly you agree or disagree by selecting the appropriate option opposite each question.

 DO NOT MISS ANY STATEMENT OUT.

Examples

E1. My child would be very upset if s/he couldn’t  definitely slightly slightly definitely

agree agree disagree disagree
listen to music every day.
E2. My child prefers to speak to his/her friends definitely slightly slightly definitely
agree agree disagree disagree
on the phone rather than write letters to them.
E3. My child has no desire to travel to different definitely slightly slightly definitely
parts of the world. agree agree disagree disagree
E4. My child prefers to read than to dance. definitely slightly slightly definitely
agree agree disagree disagree
 Definitely Slightly Slightly Definitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

1. My child finds it very easy to use train

timetables, even if this involves several
connections.
2. My child likes music or book shops because they
are clearly organised.

3. My child would not enjoy organising events e.g.

parties.

4. When my child reads something, s/he always

notices whether it is grammatically correct.

5. My child categorises people into types (in his/her

own mind).

6. My child finds it difficult to read and understand

maps.

7. When my child looks at a bridge s/he does not

think about how precisely it was made.

8. My child finds it difficult to learn how to

programme video recorders.

9. When my child likes something, s/he likes to

collect a lot of different examples of that type of
object, so s/he can see how they differ from each
other.
10. When my child learns a language, s/he becomes
intrigued by its grammatical rules.

11. My child is not interested in the details of the

weather forecast each day, e.g. pressure,
temperature, windspeed etc.
12. If my child had a collection (e.g. CDs, coins,
stamps), it would be highly organised.

13. When my child looks at a building, s/he is not

curious about the precise way it was constructed.
 Definitely Slightly Slightly Definitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

14. My child is not interested in understanding how

wireless communication works (e.g. mobile
phones).
15. My child enjoys looking through catalogues of
products to see the details of each product and
how it compares to others.
16. My child knows, with reasonable accuracy, how
much money s/he has spent and how much s/he
has got left of his/her pocket money or
allowance.
17. When my child was younger, s/he did not enjoy
collecting sets of things, e.g. stickers, football
cards etc.
18. My child is interested in the family tree and in
understanding how everyone is related to each
other in the family.
19. When my child learns about historical events,
s/he does not focus on exact dates.

20. My child does not enjoy games that involve a

high degree of strategy (e.g. chess, risk, games
workshop).
21. When my child learns about a new category s/he
likes to go into detail to understand the small
differences between different members of that
category.
22. My child does not find it distressing if people
who live with him/her upset his/her routines.

23. When my child looks at an animal, s/he likes to

know the precise species it belongs to.
24. My child can remember large amounts of
information about a topic that interests him/her
e.g. flags of the world, airline logos.
25. At school, my child does not carefully file all
his/her work.

26. My child is fascinated by how machines work.

 Definitely Slightly Slightly Definitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

27. When my child looks at a piece of furniture, s/he

does not notice the details of how it was
constructed.
28. My child does not try to work out the rules for
what to say and do in different social situations.

29. My child does not tend to watch science

documentaries on television or read articles about
science and nature.
30. My child would be able to give directions to most
parts of town.

31. When my child looks at a painting, s/he does not

usually think about the technique involved in
making it.
32. My child prefers social interactions that are
structured around a clear activity, e.g. a hobby.

33. My child is interested in knowing the path a river

takes from its source to the sea.

34. My child is a collector (e.g. of books, coins, etc.)

35. My child’s clothes are not carefully organised

into different types in his/her wardrobe.

36. My child rarely reads articles or webpages about

new technology.

37. My child does not particularly enjoy learning

about facts and figures in history.

38. My child does not tend to remember people’s

birthdays (in terms of which day and month this
falls).
39. When my child is walking in the country, s/he is
curious about how the various kinds of trees
differ.
40. If my child was getting a camera, s/he would not
look carefully into the quality of the lens.
 Definitely Slightly Slightly Definitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

41. If my child was getting a computer, s/he would

want to know exact details about its hard drive
capacity and processor speed.
42. My child does not follow any particular system
when tidying his/her room.

43. If my child was getting a stereo, s/he would want

to know about its precise technical features.

44. My child tends to keep things that other people

might throw away, in case they might be useful
for something in the future.
45. My child avoids situations which s/he can not
control.

46. My child does not care to know the names of the

plants s/he sees.

47. When my child hears the weather forecast, s/he is

not very interested in the meteorological patterns.

48. It does not bother my child if things in the house

are not in their proper place.

49. In maths, my child is intrigued by the rules and

patterns governing numbers.

50. My child finds it difficult to learn his/her way

around a new city.

51. My child could list his/her favourite 10 books,

recalling titles and authors’ names from memory.

52. My child prefers to read fiction than non-fiction.

53. When my child has a lot of shopping to do, s/he

likes to plan which shops s/he is going to visit
and in what order.
 Definitely Slightly Slightly Definitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

54. When my child listens to a piece of music, s/he

always notice the way it’s structured.

55. My child could generate a list of his/her favourite

10 songs from memory, including the title and
the artist’s name who performed each song.
 MRC-SBC/SJW Feb 1998