Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Deerfield Hall, 3359 Mississauga Road, Office 4098, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2019 Apr;49(4):1570-1585. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3843-z.
Gender variance (GV) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently co-occur in clinical populations. We investigated GV in association with ASD characteristics in nonclinical children and in children with developmental/mental health diagnoses. In 6-12-year-olds (N = 2445; 51% birth-assigned boys), the Gender Identity Questionnaire for Children measured GV and the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire measured six subdomains of ASD characteristics. Among nonclinical children, GV was associated with parent-reported difficulties orienting socially and stereotyped behaviors. GV was also associated with parent-reported clinical diagnoses of ASD, sensory processing disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. These findings suggest associations between specific ASD characteristics and GV in nonclinical children. Also, childhood GV should be further examined in a range of clinical populations, including ASD individuals.
性别变异（GV）和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）在临床人群中经常同时出现。我们研究了非临床儿童和患有发育/心理健康诊断的儿童中 GV 与 ASD 特征的关联。在 6-12 岁儿童（N=2445；51%为出生时指定为男孩）中，使用儿童性别认同问卷测量 GV，使用儿童社交行为问卷测量 ASD 特征的六个子领域。在非临床儿童中，GV 与父母报告的社交定向困难和刻板行为有关。GV 也与父母报告的 ASD、感觉处理障碍和对立违抗性障碍的临床诊断有关。这些发现表明，非临床儿童的特定 ASD 特征与 GV 之间存在关联。此外，儿童时期的 GV 应在包括 ASD 个体在内的一系列临床人群中进一步研究。
