Sex-specific metrics for success: Gaps in social word use are bigger for autistic girls than boys

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Cola, M., Schillinger, S., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Faulk, C., Covello, M., Howard, N., Franke, H., Mulqueen, A., Fulop, L., Knox, A., Cho, S., Liberman, M. Y., Pandey, J., Yates Flanagan, A., Donaher, J., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2026). Sex-specific metrics for success: Gaps in social word use are bigger for autistic girls than boys. Autism, 30(6), 1608-1614. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613261417535

Publication date: 10 Feb 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
18
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 18 (5.6%)
  1. Meredith Cola
  2. Sarah Schillinger
  3. Margaret Lyons
  4. Amanda Lee
  5. Calliana Faulk
  6. Maxine Covello
  1. Nasya Howard
  2. Hannah Franke
  3. Alexandria Mulqueen *
  4. Lizzy Fulop
  5. Azia Knox
  6. Sunghye Cho
  1. Mark Y Liberman
  2. Juhi Pandey
  3. Ashlee Yates Flanagan
  4. Joseph Donaher
  5. Robert T Schultz
  6. Julia Parish-Morris

Abstract

Autistic girls are often diagnosed late, missed, or misdiagnosed, which can negatively impact quality of life and mental health. Although research shows the social profiles of autistic girls differ from boys in systematic ways that might explain gaps in diagnosis, little is known about how autistic girls’ social language compares to their same-sex non-autistic peers. This study investigated social words—words that make reference to other people—produced by 138 age- and IQ-matched autistic and non-autistic youth (ages 6–15) during one Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition task. Girls used significantly more social words than boys across both diagnostic groups. There was a larger gap in social word production between autistic girls and non-autistic girls than autistic boys and non-autistic boys, with non-autistic girls using the most social words. Non-autistic girls’ social language behavior—including their social word production—sets an especially high bar for autistic girls, who often report trying to blend in with other girls. Growing evidence of the distinct social language profiles of autistic and non-autistic girls versus boys should guide researchers and clinicians to assess autism in ways that are sensitive to sex-associated differences and develop interventions that consider the norms of youth’s target social circles. Lay Abstract Autism is often diagnosed later in girls and women as compared to boys and men. More research is needed to understand how autism presents differently in girls. This study investigates how autistic and non-autistic youth aged 6 to 15 years use social words (e.g. “friend,” “mom,” “help,” “talk”) during an interview about friends, relationships, and marriage as part of an autism diagnostic assessment. Overall, girls used more social words compared to boys and talked more about friends. Specifically, non-autistic girls used the most social words in comparison with other groups. Highly social language produced by non-autistic girls may make it especially hard for autistic girls to blend in with other girls and could lead them to engage in more camouflaging behaviors to hide their autistic characteristics. With such different average social language behavior from girls and boys, researchers should consider adapting autism assessments and interventions to support the unique needs of autistic girls.

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: 18 Oct 2026 01:30.

Cited references
27
With a DOI
23
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
2 / 27 (7.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 27 (11.1%)
References with detected author names
24 / 27 (88.9%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
4
References with raw author names still to review
3
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
174
From DOI or external metadata
174
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
8
70 / 174 (40.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 104 / 174 (59.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
4 / 174 (2.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 4 / 70 (5.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 4 / 143 (2.8%).
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