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High-functioning autism and sexuality: a parental perspective

journal contribution
posted on 2005-01-01, 00:00 authored by Mark StokesMark Stokes, A Kaur
Few studies have compared sexual behaviours among adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA) and typical populations, and indicated whether specialized education is required. We hypothesized that adolescents with HFA would (1) display poorer social behaviours; (2) engage in fewer behaviours related to privacy and have poorer knowledge regarding privacy issues; (3) have less sex education; and (4) display more inappropriate sexual behaviours; and that (5) parental concerns would be greater for the HFA sample. Parents of typical adolescents (n = 50) and adolescents with HFA (n = 23) were surveyed with a Sexual Behaviour Scale (SBS) developed by the authors, with domains corresponding to the hypotheses. The HFA and typical groups were found to be significantly different on all five domains. However, following covariation with age and level of social behaviour, it was found that only parental concerns about their child distinguished between typical adolescents and those with HFA. Specialized sex education programmes with a social interaction emphasis should be considered for this group.


History

Journal

Autism

Volume

9

Issue

3

Pagination

266 - 289

Publisher

Sage Journals

Location

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

ISSN

1362-3613

eISSN

1461-7005

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2005 SAGE Publications and The National Autistic Society

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