Fostering healthy relationships: exploring perspectives on sexual health and education among autistic adolescents and their parents

Objectives: Autistic individuals, although they show an active interest in engaging in sexual behaviors, their unique characteristics can have a significant impact on their sexual development. This study aims to explore the sexual health of autistics adolescents concerning affectivity and sexuality, comparing information from parents. Methods: Thirty-eight adolescent, aged 13 and over, with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and their parents were included. Results: Adolescents demonstrated lack of knowledge about some sexuality concepts and less sexual experience, as well as low social self-concept and high social anxiety. That almost half of the participating adolescents had not received sexual-affective education. This study suggests a positive relationship between more extensive sexual communication and greater knowledge about sexuality on the part of adolescents, although these findings are based on a small, locally recruited sample and should be interpreted as preliminary. Conclusions: The perspectives of both adolescents and their parents were explored, revealing discrepancies and pointing to the importance of considering multiple sources of information for a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, although these conclusions are preliminary and based on a small sample recruited from Spanish associations.