Autism: Boys, Girls With Behavioral Disorder Have Different Brain Structures

Statistics show that autism is much more common in boys. Yet new research by health officials at the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that boys and girls display different traits when dealing with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

New findings published in the journal Molecular Autism reveal that brain differences between boys and girls may help explain certain discrepancies. For instance, girls with autism display less repetitive and restrictive behaviors than boys do.

"We wanted to know which specific clinical manifestations of autism show significant gender differences, and whether patterns in the brain's gray matter could explain behavioral differences," Vinod Menon, senior author of the study, said in a statement. "Understanding this is really quite crucial clinically."

In this recent study, researchers used two large, public databases to examine close to 800 children with high-functioning forms of autism in the United States.

While researchers found that boys and girls did not differ on social behavior and communication, they did find that girls had less-severe repetitive and restrictive behaviors, which are perhaps the most widely recognized of the three core features of autism. Other core features may include problems with social interactions or communication deficits.

During the study, researchers also conducted a brain scan that revealed several gender differences in brain structure between typically developing boys and girls, consistent with the findings of earlier studies.

However, the study also showed a dissimilar set of gender differences in the brain--specifically in the motor cortex, supplementary motor area and a portion of the cerebellum. These regions affect both motor function and planning of motor activity.

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