Leif Ekblad: Thanks for bringing this up. I don't think you are correct that female ASDs would leave their natal group more often than female neurotypicals and that male ASDs would tend to stay with their natal group.

 

Jay R. Feierman: You have misunderstood me. That's not what I meant. What I meant is that the genetic predisposition for autism (and ASD), since it is a male-biased condition, could have been to make males want to say in their natal group, as there would be less strangers with whom to interact if one never left one's natal group. The proximate mechanism to keep males in their natal group would be the gene(s) that underlie autism or ASD. The females with autism and ASD, even though they are less common in the population than males, would also be predisposed to stay in their natal group as well. This may be a testable idea, but there are lots of variables and the interpretation of any results would be very problematic.