Abstract
This mixed-methods study examined gender differences in the social motivation and friendship experiences of adolescent boys and girls with autism relative to those without autism, all educated within special education settings. Autistic girls showed similar social motivation and friendship quality to non-autistic girls, while autistic boys reported having both qualitatively different friendships and less motivation for social contact relative to boys without autism and to girls with and without autism. Semi-structured interviews with the adolescents corroborated these findings, with one exception: autistic girls reported high levels of relational aggression within their friendships, suggesting that girls on the autism spectrum in particular may struggle with identifying and dealing with conflict in their social lives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1297-1306 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2016. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- autism
- gender
- girls
- friendship
- peer relationships
- social motivation