Is Asperger's really more common in men? Or...

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They say Asperger's Syndrome is more common in men than women. Does anyone else think the truth of the matter might actually be that it's under-diagnosed in women because some of the symptoms (like shyness) is expected more of girls than boys?

Well, if one is to say that Asperger's is the same as autism, but without the verbal impairment as in autism (perhaps the severity of the other symptoms too, but that can be disputed); autism is rarely missed, and the ratio of males to females is similar as it is in Asperger's (five to one). It's not a leap of logic to say that it's accurate by looking at autism itself.

You run into a problem when you get to figures like 13 males to 1 female for Asperger's; I'd say that this high ratio is due to misdiagnoses and many females being missed until they're young adults (high school onwards), but that's speculation by me.

I think that it is possible and certainly has been suggested elsewhere. I think that characterizing the varieties of human consciousness is a terribly difficult thing to do and that most people, scientists and other researchers included, make loads of unconscious assumptions as they work through something like deciding what signs to look for when deciding who shows an Asperger's brain type.

As an unrelated aside, I will bristle a little at the suggestion of shyness. I don't interact with other people very much compared to the majority of the population. It is not because of shyness but because I truly have less interest in such interaction. I am not hiding, I am ignoring. I think this is an important distinction that has been discussed in beautiful detail by Jane Meyerding. On her website, she calls shyness the S word.

Women, on average, are more verbally oriented and social then men so mild autistic traits are not as obvious in women. Also, some of the genes involved with autism may be on the X chromosome and thus be sex-linked, men have only one X chromosome so any recessive trait on the X gets expressed in us guys.

A lot of people think it is under diagnosed in woman, I read a news report that said that a lot of people with anorexia could also have Asperger's because of the way people with anorexia control food intake. I cant find the news report now but it said that a lot of woman who have anorexia might also have AS and are undiagnosed.

Yes.

No, it's just happens that too many female members here are self-misdiagnosed Aspies or fake Aspies.


I think Danielismyname explains it all.

i recently read somewhere else that women confused about thier sexuality, might misdiagnose themself as being aspergers.

and now let the insults against me commence

I think more women are undiagnosed. It took them years to finally diagnose me for aspergers. I had many ppl tell me I was just speacial. I look back and wonder what they meant by that. I was just accepted as shy and reserved. I've heard that the reason why many women and girls get undiagnosed is they have better social skills than boys do in some part of the brain. So, yeah I think there are more women that have it, it's just not as noticicable as it would be in boys. It may also be how society tends to view boys and girls when it comes to socializing and skills. Boys are generally more outgoing than girls are.

The first statement is a delicate thing to say, if you really did mean to say that females on here are, if diagnosed with an ASD, misdiagnosed or are faking a disorder (which I do think is impossible in the case of autism).

There's hardly a reason why females would more likely receive an incorrect diagnosis of autism - I rather think it's the other way round, taking into consideration that few females are diagnosed as opposed to males and because it is also harder to get an ASD diagnosis for a female. But as it is, I think there are only very very few males that are misdiagnosed with an ASD, so it's not at all an issue.

Nice to know that you have the ability to evaluate every diagnosis, self or otherwise.

FWIW the psychologist who diagnosed me (who has worked with Asperger's kids and teens for many years) thinks that females are undiagnosed for a variety of reasons. She also believes that aspie girls are often less severely affected than their male counterparts. Even Simon Barron-Cohen, he of the rather unscientific "male brain" theory, admits that females on the spectrum may be more inclined to be interested in words rather than numbers, and thus aren't "stereotypical."

I tend to think its under-diagnosed in women, for both the reason you cite and because women are expected to be more "emotional", so when they get frustrated or have a melt down in the middle of a Ruby Tuesday restaurant, people will think it's just some weird womanly thing that's 'normal' enough to not look toward any disorders to try to explain.

Then there are endomorphic women, who are obsessed with food. I wonder if they could be undiagnosed Aspies, as well. :O)

Looking at the history mens inventiveness of scientists in history almost all of them has been men, , aspies men. Generally woman are at the other end of the spectrum. I wish they wasn't though

In my experience, I think that it is hugely undiagnosed in women. I also believe that AS women are probably less severely affected than men.

We also need to think about the fact that many boys with AS get very aggressive and act out in anger when they start going through puberty. Women don't tend to have these reactions, I think.

Of course, we can always throw the dice and see where the great gods of probability put us. You would think that because of the socialisation piece, that girls would actually be diagnosed more, but instead we usually get stuck on anti-depressants and told to be good girls and cheer up. Girls are also more naturally able to mimic other's behaviours that boys, so this may also contribute to the low incidence. We just don't show enough anti-social tendencies.

I think men and woman are affected to the same degree but possibly less woman are being assessed for Asperger's because the stereotype of someone who has AS is more male oriented. I am sure that the anxiety and the difficulties with understanding and interacting in social situations are the same. Also as someone said before I think a lot of woman who have AS don't get diagnosed because some professionals see them as just bieng quiet or shy.