Gender discrepancies in the diagnostic processes of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic literature review of the silenced girls
Keywords:
autism spectrum disorder, female gender, diagnosis, methods of evaluation, systematic literature reviewAbstract
The article is a systematic literature review (SLR) that investigates the characteristics of the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the female gender and whether diagnostic evaluation processes should be different for each gender. The research questions are: What characteristics are identified in girls with ASD, which could be considered to establish new guidelines in diagnostic processes? and, what diagnostic instruments are used to identify and confirm a diagnosis of ASD, which considers gender differences in its process? A boolean search method was implemented for the SLR by the Ebscohost metasearch engine. Eight articles (n=8) from five countries were used. The investigations demonstrated patterns of behavior presented by the female gender as compensatory behaviors and masking. The results detailed differences in the proportion of girls who met particular screening criteria, but did not meet all the criteria necessary to receive an autism diagnosis. It was determined that more research is required on how to implement diversity in evaluation methods considering the particularities of the genders.
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