Clinical and demographic differences by sex in autistic Venezuelan children: A cross-sectional study.
In Venezuelan preschool and early-elementary kids with ASD, boys and girls present alike on core measures, so base treatment on skill profiles, not sex.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Torres et al. (2022) looked at 103 Venezuelan kids with autism. They asked if boys and girls differ on symptom severity or daily living skills.
The team used standard tests to score each child. They also checked if more severe autism signs meant weaker adaptive skills.
What they found
Boys and girls scored the same on both measures. No sex gap showed up.
Symptom severity also did not predict adaptive level. A child with mild signs could have low daily skills, or vice versa.
How this fits with other research
Dellapiazza et al. (2022) saw the opposite in Europe. In their sample, girls with autism scored higher on parent-rated social problems and showed a special link between IQ and severity. The different result likely comes from different tools: Andy used direct severity and adaptive tests, while Dellapiazza used the SRS-2 parent scale.
Ohan et al. (2015) found that severity does predict adaptive skills, but only after you factor in age and IQ. Andy’s younger Venezuelan group may have missed this because they did not split the data by age or cognitive level.
Némorin et al. (2025) later clustered 458 kids into four severity-adaptive subtypes without using sex at all. Andy’s null sex result supports that choice: boys and girls can be grouped together when you look at skill profiles instead of gender.
Why it matters
When you assess a Hispanic child with autism, do not assume boys will look more severe than girls. Use the same skill-based treatment plan for both sexes. If you want to predict adaptive level, add age and IQ to your chart, not just autism severity. And when you build client groups or subtypes, you can safely mix boys and girls; the real splits lie in severity, IQ, and adaptive scores, not in pink or blue.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Sex differences in symptom severity and adaptive function in children with ASD have been historically inconsistent and studies are predominantly from American- and European-residing populations. Alike, there is limited information on the complex interplay between sex, intelligence, adaptive function, and autism symptom severity; this is crucial to identify given their predictive value for health outcomes in autism AIM: This study aimed to identify sex differences in autism symptom severity and adaptive function in a sample of Venezuelan children. METHOD: One-hundred-and-three Venezuelan children ages 3-7 completed a comprehensive assessment for symptom severity, adaptive functioning, and intelligence. RESULTS: Sex differences were not present in any autism diagnostic domain or adaptive function.Symptom severity was not a significant predictor for adaptive function, which contrasts with studies sampling American children. CONCLUSION: This study corroborates other findings based on non-American children, where symptom severity was not a function of adaptive function. Awareness of the interplay of culture, sex-related standards, and autism symptomatology will result in better identification and diagnosis of autism regardless of sex or cultural background. What this paper adds? This paper aids the current literature on sex difference on both autism symptom severity and adaptive function. It also provides a snapshot of the relationship between symptom severity, adaptive function, and other psychological variables that influence the outcome of children with ASD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104276