Gender differences in self-reported camouflaging in autistic and non-autistic adults.
Autistic women report more camouflaging than men, so dig deeper for subtle signs during assessment.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Delgado-Lobete et al. (2020) asked autistic and non-autistic adults to fill out a camouflaging checklist.
They wanted to know if women and men report hiding their autism traits differently.
Everyone answered questions about masking and assimilation on-line.
What they found
Autistic women said they camouflage more than autistic men.
The gap was small but real.
Non-autistic adults showed no gender difference.
How this fits with other research
Day et al. (2021) saw the same girl-boy gap in teens and linked more camouflaging to higher depression, anxiety, and stress.
Jedrzejewska et al. (2022) also found autistic girls camouflaging more offline, but they showed the effect shrinks on social media.
Begeer et al. (2013) warned that girls are identified later; Laura’s finding helps explain why—girls hide better.
Anonymous (2024) adds that fear of being judged drives adults to mask, so stigma work may lower the need.
Why it matters
If you assess autistic adults, expect women to down-play traits.
Add open questions about masking and check for anxiety.
Probe social media versus real-life behavior.
A later, quieter diagnosis can still be the right one.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Social camouflaging describes the use of strategies to compensate for and mask autistic characteristics during social interactions. A newly developed self-reported measure of camouflaging (Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire) was used in an online survey to measure gender differences in autistic (n = 306) and non-autistic adults (n = 472) without intellectual disability for the first time. Controlling for age and autistic-like traits, an interaction between gender and diagnostic status was found: autistic females demonstrated higher total camouflaging scores than autistic males (partial η2 = 0.08), but there was no camouflaging gender difference for non-autistic people. Autistic females scored higher than males on two of three Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire subscales: Masking (partial η2 = 0.05) and Assimilation (partial η2 = 0.06), but not on the Compensation subscale. No differences were found between non-autistic males and females on any subscale. No differences were found between non-binary individuals and other genders in either autistic or non-autistic groups, although samples were underpowered. These findings support previous observations of greater camouflaging in autistic females than males and demonstrate for the first time no self-reported gender difference in non-autistic adults.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2020 · doi:10.1177/1362361319864804