Self-Reported Multidimensional Gender Identity in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children.
A quick self-report form reveals that autistic boys describe more varied gender identities than non-autistic boys—something parent forms alone can miss.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked autistic and non-autistic children to describe their own gender. Kids filled out a short picture form that checked boy, girl, both, or neither feelings.
They compared answers from autistic boys, autistic girls, non-autistic boys, and non-autistic girls. All kids were between 4 and 11 years old.
What they found
Autistic boys picked mixed or non-boy answers far more often than non-autistic boys. Autistic girls picked the same answers as non-autistic girls—no big gap.
The difference showed up only when kids spoke for themselves. Parent forms alone would have missed it.
How this fits with other research
Waldron et al. (2023) saw the same wider gender range in autistic tweens. They added parent reports and still found the jump, so the new study is a close match with a younger group.
Sutherland et al. (2017) found almost no sex differences when parents rated core autism traits. The new paper shows parents can also miss gender-identity variety—another hidden piece.
Michiels et al. (2026) talked to autistic adults who said gender feelings shift over time and link tightly to autism. Their stories back up the idea that asking early, and asking again later, matters.
Why it matters
If you only use parent checklists, you may overlook gender diversity in autistic boys. A two-minute self-report form gives kids a voice and flags who might need extra support around identity. Add the form to your intake packet and revisit it yearly—feelings can evolve, and early openness sets the stage for safer mental-health outcomes.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Hand the child-friendly gender-id sheet to every autistic client aged 4-11 and file the answer in the support plan.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
ABSRACT: PURPOSE: The several prior studies assessing gender identity in young autistic individuals mostly included a mix of child and adolescent participants, heavily relied on parent-reported measures, and yielded mixed findings. A single parent-reported item from the Child Behavior Checklist assessing "wish to be of the opposite sex" was employed in most of these studies. Only one prior study focused specifically on children, but that study employed parent-reported measures. METHODS: Using self-reported multidimensional measures, the present study assessed gender identity in autistic and non-autistic children aged 4 to 11 years (30 autistic boys, 35 non-autistic boys, 20 autistic girls, 35 non-autistic girls). Child-friendly measures were used to assess own-gender similarity, other-gender similarity, gender contentedness, and wish to be of the other gender. Vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning were also assessed. RESULTS: Based on descriptive statistics, compared with non-autistic boys, autistic boys showed increased gender identity variance across all four dimensions (lower own-gender similarity, higher other-gender similarity, lower gender contentedness, greater wish to be of the other gender). These group differences between autistic and non-autistic boys were medium and statistically significant for three of the four dimensions and small-to-medium and marginally significant for the remaining dimension. Autistic girls and non-autistic girls did not show consistent or significant differences in gender identity. There were no differences between the autistic and non-autistic groups in vocabulary or non-verbal reasoning in either boys or girls. CONCLUSION: Gender identity variance may emerge early in development in autistic individuals, but the trajectory may differ for boys and girls.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026 · doi:10.1007/s11199-016-0608-z