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(AP) -- ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A new study at Washington University in St. Louis suggests that adolescents with autism are much more likely to be bullied.

The study originated at the Brown School at the university. It found that 46.3 percent of adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder were victims of bullying, compared with 10.6 percent of students in the general adolescent population.

The study used national survey data. Results were published in the recent American Medical Association's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The lead author of the study, Paul Sterzing, is now an assistant professor at the School of Social Welfare of the University of California, Berkeley. He completed the study while he was a student at Washington University.

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