Closing the gender gap: Understanding how adolescent girls with autism spectrum disorder perceive and interpret their social and emotional experiences
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Date
2017
Authors
Ward, Michelle
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Abstract
Relatively little is known about the social-emotional profile of females with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD), a population that has historically been overlooked in research and applied contexts. In an effort to advance current knowledge, this qualitative study explored the social and emotional experiences of four adolescent girls (ages 16–18) with ASD through semi- structured in-depth interviews, using an Interpretive Phenomenological framework. Interview questions generated discussion regarding friendships, romantic relations, peer interactions, and social-emotional experiences. Six superordinate themes emerged: 1) the effort of social interaction; 2) the sensory nature of relationships; 3) the cyclical impact of social-emotional experiences and social-emotional functioning; 4) a need for acceptance; 5) the impact of disability; and 6) the role of adults. The present study takes a first step towards closing a persisting gender gap in the ASD literature, advancing current understandings of girls with ASD and guiding the directions of future research.
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Keywords
Autism spectrum disorders, Females, Adolescence, Social experiences, Emotional experiences