Gender differences in relations between internalizing symptoms and social motivation among autistic and non-autistic youth

The current study examined relations between internalizing symptoms, social motivation, gender, and age among autistic and non-autistic youth. Caregivers of 386 participants ages 6 to 14 completed measures of their child's internalizing symptoms and social motivation. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to compare internalizing symptoms and social motivation across gender, diagnosis, and age. Social motivation was found to be higher among non-autistic participants compared to autistic participants, with no significant gender differences observed in social motivation within groups. Relations between social motivation and internalizing symptoms were found to vary with gender and diagnosis. Specifically, associations between internalizing symptoms and social motivation were similar across autistic girls, non-autistic girls, and non-autistic boys, while internalizing symptoms and social motivation were more closely related among autistic girls compared to autistic boys. These findings contribute to our understanding of gender differences in internalizing symptoms and social motivation by illustrating how these factors, and the relations between them, vary across autistic and non-autistic girls and boys.