Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

29-11-2024 | Original Article

Self-Reported Multidimensional Gender Identity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children

Auteurs: Jacqueline C. S. To, Marshall M. C. Hui, Karson T. F. Kung

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Absract

Purpose

The several prior studies assessing gender identity in young autistic individuals mostly included a mix of child and adolescent participants, heavily relied on parent-reported measures, and yielded mixed findings. A single parent-reported item from the Child Behavior Checklist assessing “wish to be of the opposite sex” was employed in most of these studies. Only one prior study focused specifically on children, but that study employed parent-reported measures.

Methods

Using self-reported multidimensional measures, the present study assessed gender identity in autistic and non-autistic children aged 4 to 11 years (30 autistic boys, 35 non-autistic boys, 20 autistic girls, 35 non-autistic girls). Child-friendly measures were used to assess own-gender similarity, other-gender similarity, gender contentedness, and wish to be of the other gender. Vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning were also assessed.

Results

Based on descriptive statistics, compared with non-autistic boys, autistic boys showed increased gender identity variance across all four dimensions (lower own-gender similarity, higher other-gender similarity, lower gender contentedness, greater wish to be of the other gender). These group differences between autistic and non-autistic boys were medium and statistically significant for three of the four dimensions and small-to-medium and marginally significant for the remaining dimension. Autistic girls and non-autistic girls did not show consistent or significant differences in gender identity. There were no differences between the autistic and non-autistic groups in vocabulary or non-verbal reasoning in either boys or girls.

Conclusion

Gender identity variance may emerge early in development in autistic individuals, but the trajectory may differ for boys and girls.

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Titel: Self-Reported Multidimensional Gender Identity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children
Auteurs: Jacqueline C. S. To
Marshall M. C. Hui
Karson T. F. Kung
Publicatiedatum: 29-11-2024
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06667-x

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Self-Reported Multidimensional Gender Identity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children

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Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

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