Top

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Gepubliceerd in:

03-08-2022 | Original Paper

Sexual Knowledge, Experiences, and Pragmatic Language in Adults With and Without Autism: Implications for Sex Education

Auteurs: Brooke H. Kohn, Paige Vidal, Rachael Chiao, David W. Pantalone, Susan Faja

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 10/2023

Abstract

Autistic adults have similar levels of desire for sexual and romantic relationships as their non-autistic peers. However, autistic adults are less likely to be in relationships and have less dating experience. We compared sexual knowledge, experiences, and pragmatic language ability in a community sample of young adults with (n = 27, mean age = 22.11) and without autism (n = 122, mean age = 19.47). Receipt of sex education and sexual knowledge did not differ between groups. However, autistic adults had significantly fewer partnered experiences and impaired pragmatic language. Within both groups, pragmatic skill predicted accurate sexual knowledge above and beyond general communication abilities. Findings suggest that sex education for autistic adults must address the social communication component of healthy romantic and sexual relationships.

vorige artikel The Diagnostic Period for Autism: Risk and Protective Factors for Family Quality of Life in Early Childhood

volgende artikel Child Behavior Problems and Parenting Stress in Underserved Families of Children with ASD: Investigation of Family Resources and Parenting Self-efficacy

Austin, E. J. (2005). Personality correlates of the broader autism phenotype as assessed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Personality and Individual Differences, 38(2), 451–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.04.022CrossRef

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005653411471CrossRefPubMed

Bejerot, S., & Eriksson, J. M. (2014). Sexuality and gender role in autism spectrum disorder: A case control study. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e87961. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087961CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Booth, T., Murray, A. L., McKenzie, K., Kuenssberg, R., O’Donnell, M., & Burnett, H. (2013). Brief Report: An Evaluation of the AQ-10 as a Brief Screening Instrument for ASD in Adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(12), 2997–3000. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1844-5CrossRef

Brown-Lavoie, S. M., Viecili, M. A., & Weiss, J. A. (2014). Sexual knowledge and victimization in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(9), 2185–2196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2093-yCrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Burke, S. L., Wagner, E., Marolda, H., Quintana, J. E., & Maddux, M. (2019). Gap analysis of service needs for adults with neurodevelopmental disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629517726209CrossRefPubMed

Bush, H. H. (2018). Dimensions of sexuality among young women, with and without autism, with predominantly sexual minority identities. Sexuality and Disability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-018-9532-1CrossRef

Bush, H. H., Williams, L. W., & Mendes, E. (2021). Brief report: Asexuality and young women on the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(2), 725–733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04565-6CrossRefPubMed

Constantino, J. N., & Gruber, C. P. (2012). Social responsiveness scale second edition (SRS-2): Manual. Western psychological services (WPS).

Capps, L., Losh, M., & Thurber, C. (2000). “The frog ate the bug and made his mouth sad”: Narrative competence in children with autism. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28(2), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005126915631CrossRefPubMed

Celce-Murcia, M., Dornyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 5–35.CrossRef

Clegg, J., Hollis, C., Mawhood, L., & Rutter, M. (2005). Developmental language disorders - a follow-up in later adult life. Cognitive, language and psychosocial outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(2), 128–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00342.xCrossRefPubMed

Cohen, N. J., Menna, R., Vallance, D. D., Barwick, M. A., Im, N., & Horodezky, N. B. (1998). Language, social cognitive processing, and behavioral characteristics of psychiatrically disturbed children with previously identified and unsuspected language impairments. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39(6), 853–864. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00286CrossRefPubMed

de Marchena, A., & Eigsti, I. M. (2016). The art of common ground: Emergence of a complex pragmatic language skill in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Language. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000915000070CrossRefPubMed

Dekker, L. P., van der Vegt, E. J. M., van der Ende, J., Tick, N., Louwerse, A., Maras, A., Verhulst, F. C., & Greaves-Lord, K. (2017). Psychosexual functioning of cognitively-able adolescents with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developing peers: The development and testing of the teen transition inventory- a self- and parent report questionnaire on psychosexual functionin. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3071-yCrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Deliens, G., Papastamou, F., Ruytenbeek, N., Geelhand, P., & Kissine, M. (2018). Selective pragmatic impairment in autism spectrum disorder: Indirect requests versus irony. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 2938–2952.CrossRef

Dewinter, J., Vermeiren, R., Vanwesenbeeck, I., & van Nieuwenhuizen, C. (2016). Adolescent boys with autism spectrum disorder growing up: Follow-up of self-reported sexual experience. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 25(9), 969–978. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0816-7CrossRefPubMed

Dewinter, J., de Graaf, H., & Begeer, S. (2017). Sexual orientation, gender identity, and romantic relationships in adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(9), 2927–2934. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3199-9CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Diclemente, R. J., Pies, C. A., Stoller, E. J., Straits, C., Olivia, G. E., Haskin, J., & Rutherford, G. W. (1989). Evaluation of school-based AIDS education curricula in San Francisco. Journal of Sex Research, 26(2), 188–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224498909551505CrossRef

Eales, M. J. (1993). Pragmatic impairments in adults with childhood diagnoses of autism or developmental receptive language disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 23(4), 593–617. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046104CrossRefPubMed

Eigsti, I. M., de Marchena, A. B., Schuh, J. M., & Kelley, E. (2011). Language acquisition in autism spectrum disorders: A developmental review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(2), 681–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2010.09.001CrossRef

Fourie, L., Kotzé, C., & Van der Westhuizen, D. (2017). Clinical and demographic factors associated with sexual behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders. South African Journal of Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v23i0.862CrossRef

Gallagher, T. M. (1999). Interrelationships among childrenʼs language, behavior, and emotional problems. Topics in Language Disorders, 19(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1097/00011363-199902000-00003CrossRef

Gilmour, L., Schalomon, P. M., & Smith, V. (2012). Sexuality in a community based sample of adults with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6(1), 313–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2011.06.003CrossRef

Gotham, K., Marvin, A. R., Taylor, J. L., Warren, Z., Anderson, C. M., Law, P. A., Law, J. K., & Lipkin, P. H. (2015). Characterizing the daily life, needs, and priorities of adults with autism spectrum disorder from Interactive Autism Network data. Autism. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315583818CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In Cole, P., & Morgan, J. L. (Eds.), Speech Acts (pp. 41–58). BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368811_003

Hancock, G., Stokes, M. A., & Mesibov, G. (2020). Differences in romantic relationship experiences for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. Sexuality and Disability, 38(2), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09573-8CrossRef

Hannah, L. A., & Stagg, S. D. (2016). Experiences of sex education and sexual awareness in young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2906-2CrossRefPubMed

Hartas, D. (2012). Children’s social behaviour, language and literacy in early years. Oxford Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2012.699748CrossRef

Helland, W. A., Lundervold, A. J., Heimann, M., & Posserud, M.-B. (2014). Stable associations between behavioral problems and language impairments across childhood—The importance of pragmatic language problems. Research in Developmental Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.02.016CrossRefPubMed

Hellemans, H., Colson, K., Verbraeken, C., Vermeiren, R., & Deboutte, D. (2007). Sexual behavior in high-functioning male adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(2), 260–269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0159-1CrossRefPubMed

Hellemans, H., Roeyers, H., Leplae, W., Dewaele, T., & Deboutte, D. (2010). Sexual behavior in male adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder and borderline/mild mental retardation. Sexuality and Disability, 28(2), 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-009-9145-9CrossRef

Kelley, E., Paul, J. J., Fein, D., & Naigles, L. R. (2006). Residual language deficits in optimal outcome children with a history of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(6), 807–828. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0111-4CrossRefPubMed

Konstantareas, M. M., & Lunsky, Y. J. (1997). Sociosexual knowledge, experience, attitudes, and interests of individuals with autistic disorder and developmental delay. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27(4), 397–413. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025805405188CrossRefPubMed

Lord, C., Rutter, M., DiLavore, P., Risi, S., Gotham, K., & Bishop, S. (2012). Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2). Western Psychological Services.

Lord, C. (1996). Language in high-functioning adolescents with autism: Questions about deviance and delay. In D. Cicchetti & S. L. Toth (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology: Adolescence: Opportunities and challenges, Vol. 7. pp. 149–165. Rochester: University of Rochester Press

Lewis, F. M., Woodyatt, G. C., & Murdoch, B. E. (2008). Linguistic and pragmatic language skills in adults with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2(1), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2007.05.002CrossRef

Liles, B. Z., Duffy, R. J., Merritt, D. D., & Purcell, S. L. (1995). Measurement of narrative discourse ability in children with language disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 38(2), 415–425. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3802.415CrossRef

McCrimmon, A. W., & Smith, A. D. (2013). Review of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (WASI-II). Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 31(3), 337–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282912467756CrossRef

Mogavero, M. C., & Hsu, K. H. (2020a). Dating and courtship behaviors among those with autism spectrum disorder. Sexuality and Disability, 38(2), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09565-8CrossRef

Mogavero, M. C., & Hsu, K. H. (2020b). Dating and courtship behaviors among those with autism spectrum disorder. Sexuality and Disability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09565-8CrossRef

Nadig, A., Vivanti, G., & Ozonoff, S. (2009). Adaptation of object descriptions to a partner under increasing communicative demands: A comparison of children with and without autism. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.102CrossRefPubMed

Norbury, C. F., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2003). Narrative skills of children with communication impairments. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38(3), 287–313. https://doi.org/10.1080/136820310000108133CrossRef

Ousley, O. Y., & Mesibov, G. B. (1991). Sexual attitudes and knowledge of high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 21(4), 471–481. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02206871CrossRefPubMed

Pecora, L. A., Hooley, M., Sperry, L., Mesibov, G. B., & Stokes, M. A. (2020). Sexuality and gender issues in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2020.02.007CrossRefPubMed

Penny, R. E. C., & Chataway, J. E. (1982). Sex education for mentally retarded persons. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 8(4), 204–212. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668258209018763CrossRef

Solomon, D., Pantalone, D. W., & Faja, S. (2019). Autism and adult sex education: A literature review using the information–motivation–behavioral skills framework. Sexuality and Disability, 37(3), 339–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09591-6CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Stevenson, J. L., & Hart, K. R. (2017). Psychometric properties of the autism-spectrum quotient for assessing low and high levels of autistic traits in college students. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(6), 1838–1853. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3109-1CrossRefPubMed

Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders: Diagnosis, development, neurobiology, and behavior (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 335–364). Wiley.CrossRef

Teitcher, J. E. F., Bockting, W. O., Bauermeister, J. A., Hoefer, C. J., Miner, M. H., & Klitzman, R. L. (2015). Detecting, preventing, and responding to “Fraudsters” in internet research: Ethics and tradeoffs. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 43(1), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlme.12200CrossRef

Trotter, E. C., & Alderson, K. G. (2007). University students' definitions of having sex, sexual partner, and virginity loss: The influence of participant gender, sexual experience, and contextual factors. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 16(1/2), 11.

Turner, D., Briken, P., & Schöttle, D. (2019). Sexual dysfunctions and their association with the dual control model of sexual response in men and women with high-functioning autism. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(4), 425. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8040425CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Volden, J. (2004). Conversational repair in speakers with autism spectrum disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 39(2), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/13682820410001663252CrossRef

Walsh, J. L., & Ward, L. M. (2010). Magazine reading and involvement and young adults’ sexual health knowledge, efficacy, and behaviors. Journal of Sex Research, 47(4), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490902916009CrossRefPubMed

Wechsler, D. (2011). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence—second edition (WASI-II). NCS Pearson.

Whitehouse, A. J. O., Watt, H. J., Line, E. A., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2009). Adult psychosocial outcomes of children with specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairment and autism. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 44(4), 511–528. https://doi.org/10.1080/13682820802708098CrossRef

Titel: Sexual Knowledge, Experiences, and Pragmatic Language in Adults With and Without Autism: Implications for Sex Education
Auteurs: Brooke H. Kohn
Paige Vidal
Rachael Chiao
David W. Pantalone
Susan Faja
Publicatiedatum: 03-08-2022
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 10/2023
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05659-z

Bohn Stafleu van Loghum

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

Abstract

Log in om toegang te krijgen

Andere artikelen Uitgave 10/2023

Epidemiological Screening for the Risk of Mental, Behavioral and Developmental Disorders, Including Autism, in Early Childhood: Data for Russia 2017–2019

Predictors of Treatment Response to a Community-Delivered Group Social Skills Intervention for Youth with ASD

Social Story Based Toothbrushing Education Versus Video-Modeling Based Toothbrushing Training on Oral Hygiene Status Among Male Students Aged 7–15 Years Old with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Tehran, Iran: A Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial

A Remotely Delivered Yoga Intervention for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Feasibility and Effectiveness for Improving Skills Related to Physical Activity

Sex as a Moderator Between Parent Ratings of Executive Dysfunction and Social Difficulties in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Diagnostic Period for Autism: Risk and Protective Factors for Family Quality of Life in Early Childhood