Exploring Gender Differences in Autism-Spectrum-Related Developmental Areas in 30-Month-Olds

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Shankar, Siddharth
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities often marked by social and behavioral impairments and repetitive, stereotyped behaviors. Closely related to this disorder is the concept of an “autistic continuum,” which refers to the idea that all individuals fall along a spectrum from normally developing to autism spectrum disorder, with a person displaying increased numbers of autism-related characteristics (i.e., social and communicative impairments, etc.) the further he or she falls toward the autism spectrum disorder end of the continuum. Prior research has often found significant gender differences in autistic characteristic presence, with typically developing males tending to display more autistic characteristics than typically developing females. In this study, this comparative autistic characteristic research was extended to younger ages by investigating potential gender differences in two parent-reported measures of developmental areas closely related to the autistic continuum (social responsiveness, sociability, impulsivity, and inhibitory control) for non-diagnosed 30-month-olds. No significant gender differences were found in any of these areas, but differences in several areas were trending toward significance. These results have important implications for academic inquiry and research in the field, as well as for intervening in issues related to the social development of young male children.

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