Date: August 2017
Source: nature.com SCiENtifiC REporTS | 7: 9348
Abstract:
Elevated prenatal testosterone exposure has been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and facial masculinity. By employing three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetry, the current study investigated whether prepubescent boys and girls with ASD present increased facial masculinity compared to typically-developing controls. There were two phases to this research. 3D facial images were obtained from a normative sample of 48 boys and 53 girls (3.01–12.44 years old) to determine typical facial masculinity/femininity. The sexually dimorphic features were used to create a continuous ‘gender score’, indexing degree of facial masculinity. Gender scores based on 3D facial images were then compared for 54 autistic and 54 control boys (3.01–12.52 years old), and also for 20 autistic and 60 control girls (4.24–11.78 years). For each sex, increased facial masculinity was observed in the ASD group relative to control group. Further analyses revealed that increased facial masculinity in the ASD group correlated with more social-communication difficulties based on the Social Affect score derived from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-Generic (ADOS-G). There was no association between facial masculinity and the derived Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours score. This is the first study demonstrating facial hypermasculinisation in ASD and its relationship to social-communication difficulties in prepubescent children.
Article: Hypermasculinised facial morphology in boys and girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its association with symptomatology.
Authors: Diana Weiting Tan, Syed Zulqarnain Gilani, Murray T Maybery, Ajmal Mian, Anna Hunt, Mark Walters, Andrew J O Whitehouse. Neurocognitive Developmental Unit, School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia; School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Western Australia; and Craniomaxillofacial Department, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

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  1. A preliminary investigation of the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on facial morphology in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. DW Tan, YZ Foo, J Downs, A Finlay-Jones, H Leonard, M Licari, N Mullan, M Symons, KJ Varcin, AJO Whitehouse, GA Alvares.
  2. A broad autism phenotype expressed in facial morphology. DW Tan, MT Maybery, SZ Gilani et al.
  3. Sex‐specific variation in facial masculinity/ femininity associated with autistic traits in the general population. DW Tan, MT Maybery, L Ewing, JX Tay, PR Eastwood, AJO Whitehouse.