Steward, R;
Crane, LM;
Roy, E;
Remington, A;
Pellicano, E;
(2018)
"Life is much more difficult to manage during periods": Autistic experiences of menstruation.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
, 48
(12)
pp. 4287-4292.
10.1007/s10803-018-3664-0.
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Abstract
Although menarche and menstruation are perceived to be overwhelmingly negative events for women with developmental disabilities, women’s health issues remain under-researched in autism. Here, we conducted a preliminary investigation of the experiences of post-menarcheal autistic (n=123) and non-autistic (n=114) respondents to a brief online survey. Although autistic respondents reported many issues and experiences that overlapped with non-autistic respondents, they also highlighted distinct – and sometimes-distressing – issues relating to menstruation, especially a cyclical amplification of autistic-related challenges, including sensory differences and difficulties with regulating emotion and behavior, which had a significant, negative impact on their lives. These initial findings call for systematic research on the potential causes, correlates and consequences of menstrual-related problems in autistic individuals – across the spectrum, and the lifespan.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | "Life is much more difficult to manage during periods": Autistic experiences of menstruation |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10803-018-3664-0 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3664-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2018. Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
| Keywords: | Autism, Women’s health, Menstruation, Menarche, Self-regulation, Sensory sensitivities |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10050187 |
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