Gender-related play behaviour and gender cognition in autistic and non-autistic children

Abstract

Little is known about patterns of sex-typical play in autistic children. The few prior studies on this topic relied heavily on the reports or involvement of caregivers/parents, did not assess cognitive abilities, and examined a limited number of sex-typical play outcomes. The present study examined aspects of sex-typical play in 120 children without intellectual disability (30 autistic boys, 35 non-autistic boys, 20 autistic girls, 35 non-autistic girls) aged 4-11 years. Vocabulary and abstract reasoning were also assessed. Consistently across all five play measures (parent-reported composite play, self-reported activity preferences, self-reported toy preferences, self-reported playmate preferences, and observed toy play) there were medium to large, and mostly significant, differences between autistic and non-autistic boys, suggesting less male-typical/more female-typical play in autistic boys. Autistic and non-autistic boys did not differ in vocabulary, abstract reasoning, or age. No consistent, clear, or significant patterns emerged in comparisons of autistic and non-autistic girls. The more nonconforming play in autistic boys is broadly in line with prior findings suggesting that the autistic community is not highly confined to social norms and that diverse gender expressions are not uncommon among autistic individuals. The potential link between the unaltered play in autistic girls and camouflaging is considered.