Female Autism Spectrum Disorder Essay

Female Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a social impairment that affects individuals’ relationships. The adolescence is an age of social learning as well as biological change for most developing children. Those with a disability, such as ASD, are drastically affected negatively in developing their social learning and skills. 1 in every 5 people with ASD is female, yet most of the research on autism spectrum disorder focuses on males, which limits our understanding of ASD in females. Social competences, and levels of anxiety and depressions, are two of the areas to focus on when studying the social and emotional health of adolescence with ASD. Females with ASD will show signs of increased social impairment, and a possible heightened risk of suppressing their emotions. It is especially important to watch for symptoms when the social difference between children with ASD and children without ASD become more. The reason I chose this article is because it has always been an interest of mine. I believe so many people don’t know about the disorder and have such a misunderstanding of it. Many believe it only affects the males, but there are females who have autism spectrum disorder.

Research Design

In these assessments, the independent variables were the existence, or non-existence, of an ASD, while the dependent variables were the measurements of social competence, self-perception, the quality of life, and problem behaviors. In these studies, the females that participated were between the ages of 14-19, both with and without ASD. They collected data from 6 different groups of girls over a 4-year time frame. The girls in these studies lived either in a large Midwestern city, or in the suburbs surrounding the city. Each group of girls had certain standards they had to