A comparison of self-report and discrepancy measures of camouflaging: Exploring sex differences in diagnosed autistic versus high autistic trait young adults.

This research looked at how autistic people 'camouflage' or hide their autistic traits. They studied 174 young adults - some diagnosed with autism and others with high autistic traits but no diagnosis. The study found that people without an autism diagnosis were better at effectively hiding their traits, even though everyone tried to camouflage to some degree. Among diagnosed people, females camouflaged more than males.

This suggests that being good at camouflaging might make it less likely to get an autism diagnosis.

This study compared different measures of camouflaging (masking autistic traits) in 174 young adults: 86 diagnosed autistic individuals and 88 with high autistic traits but no diagnosis. Researchers examined self-report measures versus discrepancy scores that assess camouflaging effectiveness. Key findings showed that undiagnosed individuals with high autistic traits demonstrated higher effective camouflaging than diagnosed individuals, despite similar self-reported camouflaging intentions. Among diagnosed participants, females showed higher camouflaging across all measures compared to males.

The results suggest that effective camouflaging may reduce the likelihood of autism diagnosis in both males and females, with important implications for understanding diagnostic disparities and gender differences in autism identification.

Findings suggest clinicians should consider camouflaging abilities when assessing for autism, particularly in females and individuals who may appear to function well socially. Multiple assessment approaches may be needed to identify effective camouflaging that could mask underlying autistic traits and delay diagnosis.

Study design not specified in abstract. Sample may not be representative of broader autistic population. Cross-sectional design limits causal inferences about camouflaging and diagnosis. Discrepancy measures of camouflaging effectiveness require further validation.

Camouflaging describes masking or compensating for autistic traits and/or related difficulties. Some evidence suggests autistic females camouflage more than autistic males, potentially contributing to delayed or missed diagnosis. Studies predominantly adopt self-report measures of camouflaging, potentially reflecting a person's intent to camouflage without accurately measuring effectiveness (i.e., success in fulfilling the intended effect of minimizing the appearance of autistic traits) of camouflaging. Discrepancy scores between underlying cognitive difficulties (e.g., theory of mind) and observed autistic traits (henceforth camo), or between self-reported autistic traits and observed autistic traits (henceforth camo), may provide a more accurate measure of camouflaging effectiveness.

Three measures of camouflaging administered to autistic males (n = 46) and females (n = 40), and adults with equally high levels of autistic traits but no diagnosis (n = 45 males, n = 43 females) recruited from a large population-based sample were compared. Self-report measures of camouflaging were significantly correlated with camoscores only. Both discrepancy scores were correlated with each other. Adults with high autistic traits, but no diagnosis, had higher discrepancy camouflaging scores than diagnosed adults, but self-reported scores were similar.

Diagnosed females scored higher than diagnosed males across all camouflaging measures, but no sex difference occurred in the high trait group. This might indicate that autistic females have higher intentions and greater effectiveness when camouflaging, compared with autistic males. For camoonly, high trait males scored significantly higher than diagnosed males; no group difference occurred for females. These results suggest that, despite all participants intending to camouflage to some extent, effective camouflaging as measured by discrepancy scores is higher in undiagnosed high autistic trait individuals.

One interpretation is that effective camouflaging reduces the likelihood of autism diagnosis in males and females with high autistic traits.