Social Camouflaging in Autistic and Neurotypical Adolescents: A Pilot Study of Differences by Sex and Diagnosis.

Jorgenson et al. (2020) asked 36 autistic and 30 neurotypical teens to fill out a new Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire.

The kids were 11-18 years old. The team split answers by sex and diagnosis to see who hid their autism most.

Autistic girls scored higher on total camouflaging than autistic boys.

Age mattered: older autistic teens masked more than younger ones, but age did not change scores for neurotypical kids.

Girls looked most like typical teens on the “social awareness” part of the scale, showing they copy peers well.

Hutchins et al. (2020) extends these numbers into real-life harm. Their adult women reported more suicidal thoughts the more they masked, proving camouflaging is not just a numbers game—it carries clinical risk.

Hsieh et al. (2014) came first, using interviews to show autistic girls feel huge pressure to fit in during puberty. Courtney’s 2020 paper now gives a scale that quantifies that pressure.

Shyu et al. (2026) seems to contradict: they say social anxiety lowers quality of life, while Courtney implies masking helps girls “look” typical. The difference is viewpoint—Hui-Jen measured how teens feel inside; Courtney measured how much they hide. Both can be true: a girl can act typical yet feel awful.

If you assess teens for ASD, add a camouflaging score and always ask about anxiety and mood. A girl who makes eye contact and chats may still need support. Track her score over time; if masking climbs, plan suicide-risk screening and teach self-advocacy skills so she can drop the mask safely.