Research Shows that Autism is Less Obvious in Girls
It’s been proven that boys are 4.5 times more likely than girls to have autism. But new research shows that the gender gap in people with autism may not be as wide as we previously thought. A study shows that autism may not be as easily detected in females as it is in males.
Why? The reasoning is that females are more likely to want to be a part of a group, or socialize, more than boys typically do at an early age. Therefore, because they aren’t displaying behaviors that help doctors diagnose the symptoms more easily, autism is discovered at a later time in females, resulting in the lack of early intervention.
Since there is no medical test to diagnose ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), doctors rely on watching children’s behaviors to try and diagnose them as early as possible. However, it’s more difficult to catch in females due to their tendencies to be more social than their male counterparts.
This new study was conducted by monitoring children on a playground. It was obvious that the boys with ASD were more isolated, and the girls with ASD seemed to blend in. This behavior from the girls is called “social camouflaging.” This is a term used to describe the appearance that a person seems to be socializing, when in reality they’re not having deep conversations or truly connecting with people in the group.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4269475/