Abstract
Elevated prenatal testosterone exposure has been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and facial masculinity. By employing three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry, the current study investigated whether prepubescent boys and girls with ASD present increased facial masculinity compared to typically-developing controls. There were two phases to this research. 3D facial images were obtained from a normative sample of 48 boys and 53 girls (3.01–12.44 years old) to determine typical facial masculinity/femininity. The sexually dimorphic features were used to create a continuous ‘gender score’, indexing degree of facial masculinity. Gender scores based on 3D facial images were then compared for 54 autistic and 54 control boys (3.01–12.52 years old), and also for 20 autistic and 60 control girls (4.24–11.78 years). For each sex, increased facial masculinity was observed in the ASD group relative to control group. Further analyses revealed that increased facial masculinity in the ASD group correlated with more social-communication difficulties based on the Social Affect score derived from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-Generic (ADOS-G). There was no association between facial masculinity and the derived Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours score. This is the first study demonstrating facial hypermasculinisation in ASD and its relationship to social-communication difficulties in prepubescent children.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by difficulties in social communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviours[1]
A recent study of typically-developing children with an older sibling diagnosed with ASD18 found that elevated levels of prenatal testosterone were not associated with autistic traits in the full sample, but an association was found for the subgroup of children who had a female older sibling with ASD
The current study employed a two-step approach, first determining a set of facial features that could distinguish faces of boys and girls. These features were used to investigate the hypermasculinisation and androgyny accounts by comparing children with and without ASD on facial masculinity/femininity
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by difficulties in social communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviours[1]. A case-control study of boys with and without ASD19 indicated that whereas the groups had comparable prenatal testosterone concentrations, a latent factor score derived from prenatal levels of cortisol and steroids associated with the biosynthesis of testosterone showed elevated levels in the ASD group compared to the controls These inconsistent results may be attributed to methodological differences in deriving prenatal testosterone measures www.nature.com/scientificreports/. Scott et al.[27] found that composite images created from groups of men with high levels of autistic-like traits were subjectively rated as being more masculine than images created from low-trait men. This effect was absent in female samples. Features of men with high trait levels were found to be less masculine than those of men with low trait levels
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
