Sex differences in social and emotional insight in youth with and without autism.
Hunter Mattern, Meredith Cola, Kimberly G Tena and 7 others
PMID 36871073WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic girls rated as having better insight into social situations than autistic boys, but still lower than non-autistic girls.
This pattern suggests girls may mask difficulties better than boys, making them harder to spot during standard assessments.
Key findings
01Autistic youth scored lower than non-autistic peers on three of four measures of social and emotional insight.
02Girls had higher social insight scores than boys, regardless of whether they had autism.
03Within the autistic group, girls scored significantly higher than boys on understanding social dynamics and cause-and-effect in relationships.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted only of children with average to high intelligence and fluent verbal skills, so results do not apply to autistic individuals with intellectual disabilities or limited language. The study was cross-sectional, so it is unknown if these insight differences persist into adulthood. Insight was measured by verbal responses in a short interview, which may not capture the full extent of a child's internal understanding or non-verbal insight. The sample was primarily white and from a single academic medical center, limiting generalizability.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding details were provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret higher social insight scores in autistic girls as evidence that they need less support. The study found that while girls scored higher than boys, they still scored lower than non-autistic girls, indicating a persistent deficit relative to peers.