Brief report: Sexual attraction and relationships in adolescents with autism

Tamara May; Ken C. Pang; Katrina Williams

doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3092-6

Brief report: Sexual attraction and relationships in adolescents with autism

Tamara May, Ken C. Pang, Katrina Williams

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Past research suggests more variation in sexual attraction in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using clinical samples. This study utilised a population representative group of 14/15 year olds from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Ninety-four adolescents (73 males, 21 females) with ASD and 3454 (1685 males, 1675 females) without self-reported on sexual attraction and past sexual relationships. Females with ASD reported lower rates of heterosexual preference (adjusted odds ratio: 0.14, p <.001), higher rates of bisexuality (adjusted odds ratio: 6.05, p <.001) and uncertainty in attraction (adjusted odds ratio: 10.44, p <.001) compared with non-ASD females. ASD males reported fewer prior boyfriends/girlfriends. Findings confirm female adolescents with ASD have differences in sexual attraction compared with non-ASD females.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1910-1916
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume	47
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3092-6
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2017
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Adolescent health
Autism
Sexual attraction
Sexuality

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10.1007/s10803-017-3092-6

Cite this

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Brief report: Sexual attraction and relationships in adolescents with autism

Abstract

Keywords

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