A modern assessment of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders indicates an increase in the number of patients 1. As a rule, rates up to 3-4 cases per 10,000 of the population refl ect the prevalence of typical forms of autistic disorders, such as early childhood autism and Kanner’s syndrome 2. With a broader assessment of other disorders that are included in the group of general disorders of mental development, the prevalence rates increase from 7.6 per 1000 to 157 per 10,000 3, 4. A signifi cant increase in patients with childhood and older autism inevitably leads to the actualisation of scientifi c research on social problems 5. Th e aim of the research: to study the social characteristics of patients with autistic disorders of childhood, hospitalised in a psychiatric hospital for the fi rst time. Results: a ccording to the results of a comparative analysis, children with autism were signifi cantly more have a disability group than children with mental retardation (53.3 % and 13.5 %, p<0.05), and were also signifi cantly less to be social orphans and were fully supported by the state till the time of fi rst hospitalisation (2.6 % and 35.1 %, p<0.05). It was found that a relatively comparable number of children of both groups lived in single-parent families (20.5 % and 25.7 %); statistical signifi cance corresponded to the level of random diff erences in this indicator. Th ere was a clear trend towards a more prosperous situation for autistic children. Patients with autism spectrum disorder were less likely than those with intellectual disability to be in care (5.1 % vs. 21.6 %) and also less likely to have parents with alcohol or drug addiction (7.7 % vs. 20.3 %). However, the assessment of statistical signifi cance in order to recognise the signifi cant diff erences between groups in these parameters did not reach a statistically signifi cant level. Conclusions: it was found that paediatric patients with autism spectrum disorders, who were first hospitalised in a hospital, were significantly more come from a more prosperous family environment than patients with mental retardation