Comparative Analysis of Autistic Women Across the Lifespan: Childhood vs. Adulthood Diagnosis.
Maire Claire Diemer, Rosmary Ros-Demarize, Catherine C Bradley and 6 others
PMID 40546237WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic women and non-binary people diagnosed in adulthood reported more psychological distress and fewer personal strengths than those diagnosed in childhood, despite higher education and employment rates.
Nearly one-third endorsed suicidal ideation, with significantly higher rates among gender and sexual orientation diverse individuals.
Key findings
01Participants diagnosed in adulthood reported greater overall psychological distress and fewer personal strengths than those diagnosed in childhood.
0234.13% of the sample reported thinking about killing themselves, and 20.72% reported deliberately trying to self-harm or kill themselves.
03Gender and sexual orientation diverse participants had significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation (41.4%) and self-harm (26.6%) compared to heterosexual/cisgendered participants (25.8% and 14.4% respectively).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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 sample is not representative of the broader autistic population; it is predominantly White (92%) and highly educated. The study excluded individuals who could not self-report independently or were under guardianship, omitting those with high support needs or intellectual disability. Autism diagnoses were not validated within this specific analysis (though SPARK has high validation rates in other studies), and the study did not measure autism symptom severity or cognitive ability. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality; it is unclear if late diagnosis causes distress or if distress motivates seeking diagnosis. Income and household composition data were self-reported and unverified, making interpretation of economic status difficult.
Declared interests
Funded by the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that adult-diagnosed autistic women are 'better off' because they have higher education and employment rates. The data shows they report significantly higher psychological distress and lower personal strengths than those diagnosed in childhood. Also, do not generalize these findings to autistic men or individuals with high support needs, as they were excluded from this sample.