A Relation Between Autism Traits and Gender Self-concept: Evidence from Explicit and Implicit Measures.
Aimilia Kallitsounaki, David Williams
PMID 31650373WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with more autistic traits reported weaker identification with both masculine and feminine gender attributes.
This held for self-reported feelings and automatic associations. The link to automatic associations was significant only in birth-assigned females, suggesting gender self-concept may be less central for some autistic people.
Key findings
01Higher scores on autism traits were significantly associated with lower scores on explicit measures of both masculine and feminine gender self-concept.
02Higher autism trait scores were also associated with weaker implicit gender self-concept, but this link was significant only in birth-assigned females.
03Participants with high autism traits scored significantly lower on implicit and explicit gender self-concept measures compared to those with low traits.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study used an online convenience sample recruited via MTurk, which may not represent the general population. Only 13 participants had a formal autism diagnosis; the rest were general population members with varying trait levels. The analysis of sex differences was post hoc and not pre-registered, so the finding that the implicit link was only present in females should be treated with caution. The study is cross-sectional and cannot determine if autism traits cause weaker gender self-concept or if other factors are involved.
Declared interests
Funded by a University of Kent Vice Chancellor's Research Scholarship. No other conflicts of interest are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this applies equally to all autistic people. The link between autism traits and weaker implicit gender self-concept was statistically significant only in birth-assigned females in this sample, and the study used self-reported traits rather than clinical diagnosis for most participants.