UDC: 376 : 159.973: 159.922.1 FEATURES OF GENDER IDENTITY IN ADOLESCENTS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS
DOI : https://doi.org/10.51706/2707-3076-2020-2-17
Abstract
The article represents the study of the peculiarities of gender identity in adolescents with ASD. Features of gender formation in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders have been revealed on the basis of theoretic analysis. The results of the empirical study of gender identity in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders were presented. Self-description of adolescents with ASD can have more neutral characteristics (90%), professional roles (60%) and masculine qualities (60%). So it has been found that teenagers with autism spectrum disorders are characterized by a “non-gender-typical self-concept,” that is, family, professional and gender-defined characteristics are not determinative of them in self-description, inferior to neutral-colored qualities.
Adolescent boys with autism spectrum disorders like more the masculinized picture (70%) as well as girls (66.7%), but only 40% of the adolescents were able to correctly attribute the pictures to a gender representative. 70% of adolescents attribute to a feminized image characteristics associated with high moral rating, 90% perceive a masculinized figure as weak and passive, which may indicate a specific distribution of roles and responsibilities in the adolescent family with ASD.
In general, adolescents with autism spectrum disorders are characterized by a lack of understanding of the difference in genders, their behavioural patterns, the roles played by men and women in the family and society, lack of self-criticism. They also demonstrate a lack of self-identification with their biological sex.
The gender identity features identified in adolescents with ASD require focused psycho-corrective work in order to broaden the adolescent's ideas about himself/herself, his or her gender, and his or her own gender characteristics; forming adequate perceptions of the family and the role functions of men and women in it; promoting the identification of the child with his or her gender.
