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Dating and Courtship Behaviors Among Those with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sexuality and Disability volume 38, pages 355–364 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

There has been growing concern among stakeholders about individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their sexual and intimate relationship experience, and their ability to pursue and maintain interpersonal relationships in a healthy manner. ASD is characterized, in part, by communication and socialization deficits, which may lead to miscommunications, inappropriate communications, or inappropriate actions towards romantic interests. This study sought to describe the romantic experiences of a small sample of individuals with ASD and explore any inappropriate courtship behaviors while pursuing a romantic interest.

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Notes

  1. Omitted questions regarding social relationships. For CBS, see Stokes et al. [32]. Because the current study sought a self-report, the questions in the CBS were reworded to a self-perspective.

  2. Amy Gravino is a woman on the autism spectrum who has become an accomplished international speaker and author. Amy is also known as "The Dr. Ruth of the Autism World," for her passionate interest in the area of autism and sexuality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Ave, Lakewood, NJ, 08701, USA

    Melanie Clark Mogavero

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA, 19530, USA

    Ko-Hsin Hsu

Authors
  1. Melanie Clark Mogavero
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  2. Ko-Hsin Hsu
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Correspondence to Melanie Clark Mogavero.

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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained electronically from all individual participants included in the study.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3 Romantic functioning items
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Table 4 Courting behaviors
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Mogavero, M.C., Hsu, KH. Dating and Courtship Behaviors Among Those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sex Disabil 38, 355–364 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09565-8

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Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Sexuality
  • Dating
  • Stalking
  • Harassment
  • United States