Cognitive, communication, and social differences between autistic boys and girls

• Published in: Journal of applied developmental psychology 1989-10, Vol.10 (4), p.411-424
• Main Authors: Konstantareas, M.Mary, Homatidis, Houla, Busch, Julie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autism; Child Development; Intelligence; Sex Differences; Social Development
• ISSN: 0193-3973; 1873-7900
• DOI: 10.1016/0193-3973(89)90019-1

Preliminary evidence has shown girls with autism to be more severely affected than boys. The present study attempted to re-examine this issue, employing (a) a broader set of measures than has hitherto been used, (b) an identical battery of instruments with all children rather than different tests with different subjects, and (c) a quantitative measure of severity of autistic symptomatology. Not only were nonverbal IQ and mental age higher in males, but, in addition, the boys' abilities were superior to those of girls' in object permanence, operational causality, receptive language, imitation of invisible movements and unfamiliar configurations, peer interaction, and ability to verbalize. Overall, the developmental skills of boys in the physical, self-help, and social domains were also rated higher by parents. Finally, girls had a higher total symptom score than boys and were more symptotic in 5 of the 15 symptoms examined. In no instance were the girls' skills rated higher than the boys'. When cognitive, language, or social measures were used as covariates, the sex differences were no longer significant, thereby suggesting that the skills they assess are correlated. These findings were interpreted to provide indirect support for the multifactorial threshold theory of inheritance in autism.