The Attitudes Of Individuals With Autism And Mental Retardation Towards Sexuality

Abstract

The sociosexual attitudes of 31 adults with developmental disabilities, 15 with autistic disorder and 16 with mental retardation, were measured by means of a structured interview. These attitudes were compared to the attitudes of 25 nonmatched Canadian undergraduates and to a matched sample of 28 Americans, students as well as not students, of approximately the same sex and age. In addition to examining differences between the four groups, it was of interest to see whether attitudes of participants with disabilities would correspond to attitudes of previous cohorts, as reported in earlier research. Results showed that most of the differences between the four groups were contributed by the individuals with mental retardation. They endorsed significantly fewer than 50% of the sexual activities with which they were presented. Activities individuals with developmental disabilities disapproved of, namely masturbation and homosexuality, were also disapproved by people with disabilities in earlier studies. Results are discussed for their relevance to sex education and developmental disabilities.