Sex differences in references to emotions in the narratives of young adults on the autism spectrum and controls

Authors

• Katja Dindar Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Soile Loukusa Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Leena Mäkinen Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Aija Kotila Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu
• Tuula Hurtig Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu and Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital
• Hanna Ebeling Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and PEDEGO Research Unit, University of Oulu

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23997/pk.107692

Keywords:

autism spectrum, emotion, narrative, reference, sex

Abstract

Previous studies have reported mixed findings about how females and males on the autism
spectrum orient to social situations, interpret and tell narratives about them. This study
examined how females (n = 7) and males (n = 24) on the autism spectrum and control females
(n = 11) and males (n = 24) refer to the emotions of characters seen in socio-pragmatically
complex videos. We investigated the amount of explicit and implicit references to emotions
in the participants’ narratives and whether their references included contextual information.
Results showed that both control females and females on the autism spectrum made more
implicit references to emotions than males on the autism spectrum. Males, but not females,
on the autism spectrum also provided less contextual information than control females and
control males. There were no observed differences between control females and control males.
These findings encourage paying attention to sex differences in order to better identify females
and males on the autism spectrum and to provide them with more targeted support.