The Development of Personal Choice in Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

An important aspect of adolescence is the development of personal autonomy. As teens grow older and social reasoning develops, they push boundaries and request increasingly more control over personal issues. For these personal issues, authority slowly shifts from parent to adolescent. This process has been extensively studied in neurotypical populations but has not yet been considered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the current study, we aim to collect data on how autistic teens and their parents view parental authority across different scenarios and how this compares to non-autistic teens and their parents.