Are there gender-based variations in the presentation of Autism amongst female and male children?

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Simcoe, S. M., Gilmour, J., Garnett, M. S., Attwood, T., Donovan, C. L., & Kelly, A. B. (2022). Are there gender-based variations in the presentation of Autism amongst female and male children? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(9), 3627-3635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05552-9

Publication date: 13 Jul 2022 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 6 (33.3%)
  1. Sarah Mae Simcoe
  2. John Gilmour
  3. Michelle Sarah Garnett *
  1. Tony Attwood *
  2. Caroline L. Donovan
  3. Adrian B. Kelly

Abstract

Abstract The Questionnaire for Autism Spectrum Conditions (Q-ASC; Attwood, Garnett & Rynkiewicz, 2011) is one of the few screening instruments that includes items designed to assess female-specific ASD-Level 1 traits. This study examined the ability of a modified version of the Q-ASC (Q-ASC-M; Ormond et al., 2018) to differentiate children with and without ASD-Level 1. Participants included 111 parents of autistic children and 212 parents of neurotypical children (5–12 years). Results suggested that the gendered behaviour, sensory sensitivity, compliant behaviours, imagination, and imitation subscales differentiated autistic females from neurotypical females. Compared to autistic males, autistic females had higher scores on gendered behaviour, sensory sensitivity, social masking, and imitation. Results are discussed in relation to early detection of autistic female children.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 18:17.

Cited references
47
With a DOI
30
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
14
8 / 47 (17.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
14 / 47 (29.8%)
References with detected author names
36 / 47 (76.6%)
Without detected author names
11
Without a structured title
13
Without a stable identifier
14
References with raw author names still to review
10
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
132
From DOI or external metadata
132
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
12
55 / 132 (41.7%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 77 / 132 (58.3%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
11 / 132 (8.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 11 / 55 (20.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 118 (5.1%).
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