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Self-assessed sexuality in young adults with High-Functioning Autism
The literature has revealed that autistic persons of all ages show an interest in sexuality and relationships, but the poor social and communication skills found among those with autism hinders the experience of this. Unfortunately, most research to date in this domain has relied exclusively upon parental or caregiver reports. Thus there remains a need for research to be undertaken in this area based on direct reports from autistic individuals. We hypothesised that compared to Typically Developing (TD) persons, persons with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) would reveal lesser levels of sexual experience, lower levels of sexual and social behaviour, and less understanding of privacy on various subscales of the Sexualised Behaviour Scale. The results of this present study supported the hypothesis on all scales except Privacy and Sexualised Behaviour. Overall, compared to TD individuals, HFA individuals engaged in fewer social behaviours, had less sex education and fewer sexual experiences, had more pronounced concerns for the future, and showed similar levels of privacy knowledge and public sexualised behaviour. These findings suggest a need for specialised sex education programs for autistic populations; further, since social behaviour was significantly lower for autistic individuals and future concerns were higher, this suggests that sex education programs need to incorporate education about social rules to enhance social communication and understanding.
History
Journal
Research in autism spectrum disordersVolume
5Issue
1Season
January-MarchPagination
614 - 621Publisher
Elsevier Inc.Location
Maryland Heights, Mo.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1750-9467eISSN
1878-0237Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2011, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Usage metrics
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High-Functioning AutismSexualityAdolescenceSocial functionSocial SciencesScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEducation, SpecialPsychology, DevelopmentalPsychiatryRehabilitationEducation & Educational ResearchPsychologyPARENTAL PERSPECTIVEINTERNETADOLESCENTSRELIABILITYEXPERIENCEATTITUDESKNOWLEDGEVALIDITYDISORDERONLINE
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