Autism spectrum disorder: an examination of sex differences in neuropsychological and self-report measures of executive and non-executive cognitive function

Eleni A. Demetriou, Karen L. Pepper, Shin Ho Park, Liz Pellicano, Yun Ju C. Song, Sharon L. Naismith, Ian B. Hickie, Emma E. Thomas, Adam J. Guastella*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sex differences in autism may in part be understood by an atypical sex profile of executive function and non-executive function. In this study, we compared females and males with autism against non-autistic individuals on neuropsychological and self-report measures to examine whether any sex differences in executive function and non-executive function might be unique to autism. Our study showed a significant overall female advantage for measures of psychomotor speed, cognitive flexibility, verbal learning and memory and semantic fluency. There was no significant interaction effect between diagnosis and sex. No sex differences were observed on the self-report measure of executive function. Our results suggest that while females show different cognitive performance to males, these sex differences were not specific to the autistic cohort.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2223-2237
Number of pages15
JournalAutism
Volume25
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

Keywords

  • autism spectrum disorder
  • Behavioural Rating Inventory of Executive Function
  • Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery
  • executive function
  • sex differences

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