Health-related risky behaviors in adolescents with high functioning autism

Abstract：Objective To investigate the characteristics of health-related risky behaviors in adolescents with High Functioning Autism (HFA). Methods Fifty adolescents aged 12-18 years, IQ≥70 and meeting the criteria of autistic disorder in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-Ⅳ), and 50 age-and gendermatched healthy controls were recruited. The health-related risky behaviors of all subjects were assessed with the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory (AHRBI). The parents of autistic subjects completed the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory for Parent (AHRBI-P). Results HFA group had higher total scale score and four subscales' scores of AHRBI than controls, including Suicide and Self-Injury (SS), HealthCompromising Behavior (HCB), Aggression and Violence (AV) and Rule Breaking (RB) (all P＜0.05). HFA group had higher scores than controls in the items of "Bullying/Threatening/Intimidating partner", "Deliberately pushing and shoving others", "Not drinking milk/soy milk", "Not participating in any form of physical activity", "Skiping class/Playing truant", "Running away from home", "Biting/Scratching/Bumping to hurt oneself" (all P＜0.05). Among all the subscales and items, the scores of HCB, SS, "Not drinking milk/soy milk", "Physical discomfort due to dieting", "Fighting and Arms-taking" and "Drinking" of self-assessment in HFA group were higher than those of parents' assessment (all P＜0.05]. Conclusion The adolescents with HFA have more health-related risky behaviors than the healthy adolescents except for Smoking and Drinking (SD) and Unprotected sex (US).