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Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue

ASD consists of a set of permanent neurodevelopmental conditions, which are studded with social and communication differences, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors. Individuals with ASD have difficulty reading eye gestures and expressions, and may also have stereotyped or repetitive language,...

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Autores principales: Maggio, Maria Grazia, Calatozzo, Patrizia, Cerasa, Antonio, Pioggia, Giovanni, Quartarone, Angelo, Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9688284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36358354
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111427
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author Maggio, Maria Grazia
Calatozzo, Patrizia
Cerasa, Antonio
Pioggia, Giovanni
Quartarone, Angelo
Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore
author_facet Maggio, Maria Grazia
Calatozzo, Patrizia
Cerasa, Antonio
Pioggia, Giovanni
Quartarone, Angelo
Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore
author_sort Maggio, Maria Grazia
collection PubMed
description ASD consists of a set of permanent neurodevelopmental conditions, which are studded with social and communication differences, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors. Individuals with ASD have difficulty reading eye gestures and expressions, and may also have stereotyped or repetitive language, excessive adherence to routines, fixed interests, and rigid thinking. However, sexuality in adolescents and young adults with ASD is still a poorly studied and neglected issue. This review aims to evaluate sexual function and behavior in individuals with ASD to foster a greater understanding of this important, although often overlooked, issue. This review was conducted by searching peer-reviewed articles published between 01 June 2000 and 31 May 2022 using the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Database, and Web of Science. A comprehensive search was conducted using the terms: “Autism” OR “ASD” AND “Sexuality” OR “Romantic relation” OR “sexual behavior” AND/OR “sexual awareness”. After an accurate revision of 214 full manuscripts, 11 articles satisfied the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This review found that, although individuals with ASD may have sexual functioning, their sexuality is characterized by higher prevalence rates of gender dysphoria and inappropriate sexual behavior. Furthermore, sexual awareness is reduced in this patient population, and the prevalence of other variants of sexual orientation (i.e., homosexuality, asexuality, bisexuality, etc.) is higher in adolescents with ASD than in non-autistic peers. Sexual health and education should be included in the care path of patients with ASD in order to improve their quality of life and avoid/reduce inappropriate and risky behaviors.
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spelling pubmed-96882842022-11-25 Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue Maggio, Maria Grazia Calatozzo, Patrizia Cerasa, Antonio Pioggia, Giovanni Quartarone, Angelo Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore Brain Sci Review ASD consists of a set of permanent neurodevelopmental conditions, which are studded with social and communication differences, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors. Individuals with ASD have difficulty reading eye gestures and expressions, and may also have stereotyped or repetitive language, excessive adherence to routines, fixed interests, and rigid thinking. However, sexuality in adolescents and young adults with ASD is still a poorly studied and neglected issue. This review aims to evaluate sexual function and behavior in individuals with ASD to foster a greater understanding of this important, although often overlooked, issue. This review was conducted by searching peer-reviewed articles published between 01 June 2000 and 31 May 2022 using the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Database, and Web of Science. A comprehensive search was conducted using the terms: “Autism” OR “ASD” AND “Sexuality” OR “Romantic relation” OR “sexual behavior” AND/OR “sexual awareness”. After an accurate revision of 214 full manuscripts, 11 articles satisfied the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This review found that, although individuals with ASD may have sexual functioning, their sexuality is characterized by higher prevalence rates of gender dysphoria and inappropriate sexual behavior. Furthermore, sexual awareness is reduced in this patient population, and the prevalence of other variants of sexual orientation (i.e., homosexuality, asexuality, bisexuality, etc.) is higher in adolescents with ASD than in non-autistic peers. Sexual health and education should be included in the care path of patients with ASD in order to improve their quality of life and avoid/reduce inappropriate and risky behaviors. MDPI 2022-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9688284/ /pubmed/36358354 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111427 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Maggio, Maria Grazia
Calatozzo, Patrizia
Cerasa, Antonio
Pioggia, Giovanni
Quartarone, Angelo
Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore
Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title_full Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title_fullStr Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title_full_unstemmed Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title_short Sex and Sexuality in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review on a Neglected but Fundamental Issue
title_sort sex and sexuality in autism spectrum disorders: a scoping review on a neglected but fundamental issue
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9688284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36358354
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111427
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