Sexuality in the Autism Spectrum Study (SASS): Reports from Young Adults and Parents

Hartmann, Kathrin; Urbano, Maria R.; Raffaele, C. Teal; Qualls, Lydia R.; Williams, Takeshia V.; Warren, Clay; Kreiser, Nicole L.; Elkins, David E.; Deutsch, Stephen I.

doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04077-y

Cited by 36 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These conclusions are uncertain, however, because parents of children with ASD tend to overestimate their own knowledge about their child's sexual life (17). In addition, these parents tend to underestimate the sexual experience and activities of their child (18)(19)(20). As stressed by Dekker et al (18), underestimation of sexual behaviors by these parents may reflect not only the fact that most of these behaviors are performed privately, but also that parents might assume that sexuality is non-existent or irrelevant for their child with ASD.…”

Section: Sexual Knowledge Desires and Experience Of Adolescents/young Adults With Asdmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals with ASD seem to be at higher risk for sexual victimization than individuals without ASD, although evidencebased data are still scarce on that matter [see (26,27) for reviews]. In adults with ASD, a handful of studies are available, indicating high prevalence of sexual victimization, ranging between 46 and 78% (20,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Not all studies included a comparison group, however.…”

Section: Asd and Sexual Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Fernandes et al ( 12 ) and Hartmann et al ( 20 ) compared responses of adolescents/young adults with ASD to those of their parents. Both studies confirmed that most participants report having sexual interest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, four of these self-report investigations about sexuality of adolescents/young adults with ASD mostly concerned boys ( 12 , 18 , 22 , 23 ) and the fifth did not distinguish between genders ( 20 ). More data, especially self-reported, concerning sexual knowledge, desires, and experiences of female adolescents/young adults with ASD are needed, along with comparative data from TD adolescents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On one study, for instance, the proportion of female college students women reporting unwanted sexual contact on campus was in fact lower among those with ASD compared with those without ASD, although rates were alarmingly high in both groups [61.5 and 83.2%, respectively; ( 28 )]. In young adults with ASD (18–30 years), two independent studies reported a lifetime prevalence of 62% for sexual victimization ( 20 , 31 ). Earlier data indicated that odds ratios for sexual victimization were equally elevated for men and women with ASD ( 29 ), although more recent studies suggested that women with ASD are at significantly higher risks than men with ASD ( 30 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Sexual Knowledge, Desires, and Experience of Adolescents and Young Adults With an Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Exploratory Study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although most persons with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) wish to have romantic and/or sexual relationships, little is known about self-report sexuality of adolescents/young adults with ASD. In this exploratory study, 172 male and female adolescents/young adults (68 with ASD and 104 without ASD) completed an online version of the Sexual Behavior Scale-Third edition. Although many more similarities than differences were observed between the groups for views and desires about romantic relationships (e.g., wishing to have a girlfriend/boyfriend), fewer participants with ASD (mostly boys) had experience with a variety of sexual/dyadic behaviors, and approximately half of girls with ASD reported negative sexual experiences. Significantly higher rates of participants with ASD felt their knowledge about sexuality was limited and found it difficult to understand sexual education compared with typically developing (TD) participants. Significantly lower rates of participants with ASD reported that they identify to their assigned gender compared with TD participants. Multiple regressions revealed that being older at first diagnosis and possessing better knowledge about sexuality were significant predictors of both positive and negative sexual experience. This study explores strengths and challenges related with the sexual health of adolescents/young adults with ASD and implications for clinical and educational practice are discussed.

show abstract