Date Published: January 14, 2025

This is a SPARK Research Match Summary Report. It describes results from newly published research using data from SPARK participants.

Study title

More Similar Than Different: Characterizing Special Interests in Autistic Boys and Girls Based on Caregiver Report

What was the study about?

Almost all autistic people have special or intense interests in topics or things. Researchers do not know a lot about how these interests differ by gender. Some people wonder if differences in interests may help explain why autistic girls are diagnosed later and less often than boys. To learn more, researchers asked the parents of youth in SPARK about their children’s intense interests.

How was the research done?

The parents of 1,921 autistic youth ages 2 through 17 completed the Special Interests Survey online. Parents reported their children’s genders as male or female. The group included 1,534 boys and 387 girls.

What did the researchers learn?

• Researchers found no differences between boys and girls in about 60 percent of the 31 categories of special interests. Boys and girls shared three of the top five interests: TV and movies, being attached to objects, and music.¹
• The categories where boys and girls differed fell along traditional gender lines. More boys were interested in construction and mechanical things, for example. Girls were more likely to be interested in animals and arts and crafts.
• Boys had slightly more special interests than girls. They did not differ in the age they began having special interests and how long the interests lasted.
• Parents of sons and daughters had similar ratings of how unusual their children’s interests were and how much they interfered with daily activities. Boys and girls shared four of the top five interests ranked as most unusual: factual information about things, being attached to objects, schedules, and numbers.
• Researchers say that children may view their interests differently than parents.

What was new and innovative about the study?

This study used a new tool, called the Special Interests Survey, to explore gender differences in special interests. This survey asks about more types of interests, including some common to girls, than some older autism surveys do.

What do the findings mean?

Autistic boys and girls are more alike than different in their special interests. They have many of the same interests, but they differ on some interests that are traditionally associated with one gender over the other.

What are people saying?

Study participants:

• “Very important research topic. [My child’s] special interests play such an important role in [their] life and does interfere with [their] life, makes it hard to engage [them] in other activities.”
• “I am happy to know that these issues are being studied so that they may be understood better. Having research/data to back-up experiences is very valuable — especially in how it relates to educational development, in my opinion. Thank you!”
• “This study is very relevant to the behavior we see in our [child]. It felt respectful and well thought out.”

Study researcher Cynthia E. Brown, Ph.D., assistant professor, Pacific University:

“In general, interests are more similar than different. In terms of the number of interests that boys and girls have, it’s about the same. The duration of interests is about the same. We found a few differences in interests that were more common in girls or boys, and those interests tended to fall along traditional gender lines.”

What’s next?

Researchers plan to use these study results to help develop a better special interest survey, including a survey that autistic youth and adults can take, Brown says. Possible changes include making interest categories more specific, and separating the topic of an interest from how someone engages in that interest.

References

1. Brown C.E. et al. Autism Res. 17, 2333-2345 (2024) PubMed

About SPARK Research Match

This SPARK Program matches participants with research studies that they may want to join. These studies have been evaluated for scientific merit and approved by a scientific committee at SPARK. The program is free to researchers and participants. SPARK does not endorse or conduct these studies. Participants choose if they want to take part in a particular study.