Gender differences in symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders in toddlers

Gender differences in symptoms representing the triad of impairments of Autism Spectrum Disorders remain unclear. To date, the majority of research conducted on this topic has utilized samples of older children. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to utilize a sample of toddlers to investigate gender differences in symptom endorsements of ASD. Also, deficits in areas such as cognition have been shown to affect gender in this same population (i.e., gender ratios). Therefore, each toddler's level of developmental ability was accounted for in the current study. In this sample of toddlers, gender differences were only found in regards to the restricted interests and repetitive behavior domain, with females with an average Developmental Quotient having significantly fewer endorsements on items related to restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Implications of the findings are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.