The definition and measurement of autistic identity when studying eating disorder symptoms.
Old studies missed the link because their identity scales skipped pride, stigma, and camouflaging—use the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale instead.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Y (2026) wrote a theory paper, not an experiment.
The author looked at past studies that said autistic identity has no link to eating-disorder risk.
Y argues those studies used the wrong tools. They left out pride, stigma, and camouflaging.
What they found
The paper found a problem with the old rulers.
When you leave out key parts of identity, you get a false "no link" answer.
Y says use the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale instead. It covers all three missing pieces.
How this fits with other research
Han et al. (2022) showed stigma and camouflaging are daily facts for autistic adults. Y’s point: if your scale skips these, you miss the real story.
Anonymous (2024) found fear of judgment drives more camouflaging. That fits Y’s call to measure camouflaging inside identity, not as a side note.
Hedley et al. (2023) built a new suicide scale for autistic adults. Their work shows the field is already fixing tools; Y says identity tools need the same fix.
Why it matters
Next time you read "no link between autistic identity and eating issues," check the scale. If it skips pride, stigma, or camouflaging, the finding may be junk. Swap in the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale before you plan care or write reports.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
While the Bradley et al. paper brought up an interesting question regarding the relationship between autistic identity and eating disorders, there are concerns with the assumptions and design of this study. This article concludes that autistic identity has no connection to potential eating disorder symptom severity. However, the psychometric tool used, the Social Identity Scale, is missing key aspects of autistic identity found in other tools. In addition, the tool used is not validated in autistic adults.Lay AbstractA recent paper by Bradley et al. concluded that there is no relationship between autistic identity and eating disorder symptoms. However, the survey tool used to assess autistic identity of its participants did not include key components needed to arrive at this conclusion. Variations of autistic identity that would need to be considered are manifold. Some of these facets to consider in a survey assessing autistic identity would be whether or not autism is a source of pride, traits are thought to be steadfast or changeable, stigma is felt, and whether they should perform camouflaging behavior. This is important because eating disorder symptoms can be affected by these differences. For example, changeability and autistic pride have been thought to affect eating disorder symptoms. This research can be accomplished through other psychometrically validated surveys such as the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale, which include these features in the survey development. So, the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale or like measure would need to be used before reaching the conclusion of this recent Bradley et al. paper. In addition, the Social Identity Scale used in the Bradley et al. paper has not been validated in an autistic adult sample, which makes it not the ideal survey for the research question as well.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2026 · doi:10.1177/13623613251383347