Objective To explore sex difference of cognitive and behavioral characteristics in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods The study involved 621 children (503 boys,118 girls) diagnosed with ASD from June 2013 to June 2015.Raw scores,developmental ages,percentages were used to examine cognitive and behavioral characteristics in children with ASD based on the Psycho-Educational Profile-3rd Edition (PEP-3).The sample was divided into four groups according cognitive verbal/preverbal (CVP) percentages:A group(CVP:～25%),B group(CVP:～50%),C group(CVP:～75%),D group(CVP:～100%).Behavior characteristics were analyzed related to gender differences in different cognitive levels. Results 1)Girls with ASD had lower raw scores and developmental ages in CVP,expressive language (EL),receptive language (RL),fine motor (FM),gross motor (GM),visual-motor imitation (VMI),affective expression (AE),social reciprocity (SR),characteristic motor behaviors (CMB),characteristic verbal behaviors (CVB),problem behavior (PB),personal self-care (PSC) and adaptive behaviors (AB) than boys (P<0.05).2)In A group,girls had lower raw scores in CVP (P<0.001) and GM than boys (P=0.010).However,there were no differences in other subtests.Additionally,no gender differences were found in the other three groups (P>0.05). Conclusions Girls with ASD have lower cognitive ability,greater social communication impairment,weaker adaptive skills,weaker motor functioning and greater behavior problems relative to boys.Moreover,the low cognitive ability in girls with ASD may play a fundamental role in gender behavioral difference.
Key words
autism spectrum disorder /
sex difference /
Psycho-Educational Profile-3rd Edition /
cognitive /
behavioral
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