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Potential Gender Differences in Non-Verbal and Verbal Communication Among High-Risk and Low-Risk Infant Groups
Throughout their lifetime, females may master non-verbal communication more adeptly than males (Briton & Hall, 1995), such that high-functioning females may “camouflage” their social deficits and receive a late ASD diagnosis (Lai et al., 2017). While gender differences in ASD have been examined in older children, adolescents, and adults (Hull et al., 2017), little research has explored potential gender differences in non-verbal and verbal communication in the context of high-risk (HR) versus low-risk (LR) infant development.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to examine within risk status gender differences and within gender risk status differences in non-verbal and verbal communication at 12, 15, and 18 months in infants who are at HR and LR for ASD.
Methods:
These analyses used secondary data from two cohorts of LR (n=43) and HR (n=39) infant participants from two longitudinal studies. Nonverbal communication skills were measured using the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS; Mundy et. al, 2013) at 12, 15, and 18 months, yielding frequency information on initiating joint attention (IJA), initiating behavioral regulation (IBR), and percent correct scores for responding to joint attention (RJA; number of trials in which a child correctly follows the examiner’s point). Verbal communication was measured using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI; Fenson et al., 2007) at 12 and 15 months. Descriptive statistics and One-Way ANOVAS were calculated.
Results:
The results of the ANOVAs comparing gender differences within each risk group yielded no significant differences for IJA, IBR, or MCDI scores between LR males and females at any age or for IJA, RJA, IBR, or MCDI scores between HR males and females at any age. However, a significant difference was found for RJA at 15 months between LR males and females, with LR females outscoring LR males. Comparing risk status group differences within each gender, no significant differences were found for IJA or IBR between LR and HR females or IJA between LR and HR males. However, significant differences were found for RJA at 18 months and MCDI Phrase Speech Comprehension (Percentile Score) at 15 months between HR and LR females, with LR females outscoring HR females. Furthermore, significant differences were found for IBR at 12 months, RJA at 18 months, and MCDI Vocabulary Comprehension at 15 months between HR and LR males, with LR males outscoring HR males.
Conclusions:
These analyses suggest that, within the context of a particular risk group, gender differences in non-verbal and verbal communication may not be observable at 12 and 15 months; they may not emerge until later in development when communication skills are more advanced. These analyses show that within the same gender, HR individuals scored lower in some realms of non-verbal and verbal communication than their LR counterparts, starting as early as 12 months of age. Thus, infants who are at HR for ASD, but not yet diagnosed with ASD, may be distinguishable from LR infants of the same gender, implicating a potential for future diagnosis or possession of a broader autism phenotype.