Autism Camouflaging in Relation to Views about Autism, Mental Health, and Gender Identity

Document Type

Social Sciences

Authors

Joshua A. Evans, Pepperdine UniversityFollow

Abstract

This study examined relationships between autism camouflaging behavior, personal views about autism, community support, camouflaging emotional impact, depression, anxiety, ability to be one’s authentic self and gender in autistic adults. Participants were recruited through Facebook groups. There were 248 participants (174 cisgender women, 22 cisgender men, and 43 nonbinary people). It was hypothesized autism camouflaging behavior, its emotional impact and authentic self would correlate with depression and anxiety. Gender and camouflaging emotional impact were correlated with depression levels, but camouflaging behavior was not correlated with depression or anxiety. Participants with lower self-reported acceptance of authentic self had higher depression and anxiety symptoms. Cisgender women and nonbinary participants reported more camouflaging behavior than cisgender men. Community support was correlated with positive personal views of autism.

Keywords: Autism, Camouflaging, Masking, Community, Mental Health, Anxiety, Depression, Gender, Nonbinary, Authentic Self

Recommended Citation

Evans, Joshua A. (2022) "Autism Camouflaging in Relation to Views about Autism, Mental Health, and Gender Identity," Global Tides: Vol. 16, Article 10.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol16/iss1/10