The development of autistic social traits across childhood and adolescence in males and females

Abstract

There are gender-specific trajectories of autistic social impairment, with females more likely than males to experience an escalation of ASTs during early- and midadolescence. It remains to be discovered whether the observed female adolescent increase in ASTs represents the genuine late onset of social difficulties or earlier, subtle, pre-existing difficulties becoming more obvious.

Psychometric properties of the chinese version of autism spectrum quotient‐children's version: A sex‐specific analysis

“…Instead, it may reflect genuine increases of autistic traits in girls. Similar results have been found in previous research, reporting that girls are more likely than boys to experience an escalation of autistic traits [Mandy, Pellicano, St Pourcain, Skuse, & Heron, 2018].…”

Maternal and offspring methylenetetrahydrofolate‐reductase genotypes interact in a mouse model to induce autism spectrum disorder‐like behavior

“…69 These differences may lead to the gender-specific trajectories of autistic social impairment that have been observed in children and adolescents. 70 A similar difference in the autistic social phenotype was observed in mouse behavior in the resident-intruder test, which resembles an aggressive social situation. 47 In our study, although both males and females were affected by genotype, different aspects of their behavior were impaired ( Figure 3F-I).…”

“…Besides the known difference in ASD rates among males and females, in humans, gender‐dependent differences in the activation of brain regions that support social behavior and in the motor circuits activated during repetitive behavior were found in autistic children . These differences may lead to the gender‐specific trajectories of autistic social impairment that have been observed in children and adolescents . A similar difference in the autistic social phenotype was observed in mouse behavior in the resident‐intruder test, which resembles an aggressive social situation .…”

The Female Autism Phenotype and Camouflaging: a Narrative Review

“…This may lead to variation in presentation across different environments, for example at home, school or in clinical assessment, leading to a discrepancy in the perceived extent of autistic social communication difficulties. This may also account for variation in perceived autistic characteristics over time; the complexity of social situations may change across development, such that an autistic individual is able to adapt to or compensate for difficulties in more simple social interactions, but their difficulties may become more apparent as the social environment becomes more complex (Lai et al 2011;Mandy et al 2018).…”