Gendered play behaviours in autistic and non-autistic children: A population-based cohort study.
Laura Hull, Hein Heuvelman, Jean Golding and 2 others
PMID 36537789WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic boys were reported as less masculine in play than non-autistic boys from 42 months.
Autistic girls did not show a clear difference. Non-autistic boys became more gendered over time, while autistic boys did not.
Key findings
01From 42 months, autistic boys had less masculine play scores than non-autistic boys, and this difference persisted at 57 months.
02Non-autistic boys became more masculine and non-autistic girls more feminine between 30 and 57 months, while autistic children showed no significant change over time.
03At age 8, autistic boys reported less masculine play than non-autistic boys, while autistic and non-autistic girls did not differ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study had only 28 autistic girls, so it was underpowered to detect differences in girls, and the lack of significant findings in girls is uncertain. The play measures were not validated in autistic samples, and children were not asked about gender identity, so scores may reflect sex assigned at birth rather than gender. The study could not examine children with intellectual disability, language differences or co-occurring conditions because too few children met these criteria. Some children were excluded because play data were missing at all time points, and excluded children had a less favourable socioeconomic profile, although 8-year play scores were similar between excluded and retained children. There was no direct involvement from the autistic or autism communities. The study observed play over time and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show what causes the differences or whether changing play would help.
Declared interests
The UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust and University of Bristol provided core support for ALSPAC; the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre supported this study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autistic girls have no gendered play difference. The study had only 28 autistic girls, and the differences in girls were not statistically significant.