Adults with Autism Prefer Person-First Language in Dutch: A Cross-Country Study.
Autistic girls may look socially skilled while hiding distress—probe deeper.
01Research in Context
What this study did
De Laet et al. (2025) watched autistic and neurotypical teens talk with a new adult.
They scored how well each teen kept the conversation going.
All teens had the same level of autism traits.
The team then compared girls and boys.
What they found
Autistic girls looked more social than autistic boys, even though their traits were equal.
The girls showed better back-and-forth talk.
This hints they were hiding their struggles.
How this fits with other research
Jedrzejewska et al. (2022) saw the same girl-boy gap in 12- to 18-year-olds.
They used surveys instead of live talk, yet the gender pattern matched.
Day et al. (2021) add a warning: girls who camouflage also report more depression and anxiety.
Sedgewick et al. (2019) explain why girls pass socially: they copy neurotypical friendship styles, but hit more conflict.
Together the four papers show autistic girls look smooth on the outside yet feel worse on the inside.
Why it matters
Your eye can miss autistic girls. Add short role-play or peer-chat probes to every intake. Ask about stress, mood, and online versus offline friends. Teach girls to name their needs instead of masking.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated sex/gender differences in camouflaging with children and adolescents (N = 84) with and without an autism diagnosis/increased levels of autistic traits using two conceptualisations/operationalisations of camouflaging. A significant group-by-gender interaction using ANCOVA, with the covariate of verbal IQ, reflected similar levels of social reciprocity in autistic and neurotypical females, whereas autistic males had lower reciprocity than neurotypical males. Autistic females also had higher reciprocity than autistic males, despite similar levels of autistic traits (behavioural camouflaging). Additionally, autistic males and females had similar theory of mind skills, despite females having increased reciprocity (compensatory camouflaging). These findings provide evidence of increased camouflaging in autistic females, which may contribute to delay in the recognition of difficulties and provision of support.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04280-x