Project KISS: Investigating the Gaze Outcomes Associated with Flirting
Authors:
Ellorie Levy, OT/s; Mary Barnes, OTD; Eileen Crehan, PhD
Abstract:
Autistic adults are at higher risk for sexual victimization due to inadequate sex education compared to neurotypical adults. Project Key Intimate Social Skills (KISS), a 3-year NIH study launched by Tufts Crehan Lab and Boston Children’s Hospital aims to develop and assess a social measurement battery for dating and sexual functioning to address this gap. This project explored correlation between two measures, the Teen Transition Inventory’s psychosexual functioning scale and gaze outcomes as defined by the Flirt-In-The-Crowd (FITC) paradigm and measured using eye tracking of fixation. Pearson’s r (n=11 autistic; n=69 non-autistic participants, ages 18-31) found a negative correlation, indicating the FITC construct of fixation may not accurately measure dating interest. Future research focus on more accurate measures can better protect autistic adults from sexual victimization.
Key Words:
Autistic Adults, dating interest, Gaze Outcomes