Brief Report: Examination of Sex-Based Differences in ASD Symptom Severity Among High-Functioning Children with ASD Using the SRS-2.
Among high-functioning autistic kids, girls and boys look almost identical on the SRS-2, so don’t expect the scale alone to flag sex-specific profiles.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave the SRS-2 to 67 high-functioning kids with ASD. Ages ranged from 8 to 11.
Half were girls, half boys. All had IQ scores above 70. The goal: see if girls score differently.
What they found
Total SRS-2 scores were almost the same for both sexes. Mean difference was less than two points.
Girls did show a tiny link: higher IQ and language scores went with lower social-cognition scores. This link did not appear in boys.
How this fits with other research
Beggiato et al. (2017) found the ADI-R flags more repetitive behaviors in boys. D et al. found no such gap on the SRS-2. The tools ask different questions, so the scores can differ without clashing.
Souza et al. (2023) pooled many studies and saw boys show more restricted interests while girls show more intellectual disability. D et al. focused on high-functioning kids, so the IQ split was already capped, hiding that pattern.
McIntyre et al. (2017) saw gene-expression sex differences in ASD lymphocytes. D et al. saw no behavior sex differences. Biology and behavior simply do not always line up.
Why it matters
If you rely only on the SRS-2 to spot sex-specific profiles, you will miss them. Use multiple tools and watch for small IQ-linked social dips in girls. Do not lower the cutoff for girls or boys based on sex; keep the same threshold for both.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Prior studies of sex-based differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have yielded mixed findings. This study examined ASD symptom severity and functional correlates in a sample of 34 high-functioning females with ASD (HFASD; M age = 8.93; M IQ = 104.64) compared to 34 matched males (M age = 8.96; M IQ = 104.44) using the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition (SRS-2). Results identified non-significant and minimal differences (negligible-to-small) on the SRS-2 total, DSM-5 symptom subscale, and treatment subscale scores. Significant negative (moderate) correlations were found between the SRS-2 Social Cognition subscale and IQ and language scores and between the SRS-2 Social Motivation subscale and receptive language scores for females only; no significant correlations were found for males.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3733-4