Greater gender diversity among autistic children by self-report and parent-report.
Blythe A Corbett, Rachael A Muscatello, Mark E Klemencic and 3 others
PMID 35363085WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children self-reported more binary and nonbinary gender diversity than peers, but parents only reported more body incongruence.
Parent and child reports did not correlate, meaning parents may miss the child's internal gender experience.
Key findings
01Autistic children self-reported significantly higher rates of both binary and nonbinary gender diversity compared to typically developing peers.
02There were no significant correlations between parent-reported and self-reported gender diversity scores, indicating inconsistency across respondents.
03Parents of autistic children reported marginally more body incongruence than parents of typically developing children, but no differences were found in other parent-reported domains.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was recruited from the Central Southern United States, a region with lower cultural tolerance for gender diversity, which may have suppressed parent reporting. There was a significant IQ difference between the groups (autistic mean 100.96 vs. typically developing mean 116.93), though IQ was not associated with the outcome variables. The study did not assess clinical gender dysphoria, only gender diversity experiences via screening questionnaires. The sample was disproportionately white and male, limiting generalizability to other racial groups and autistic girls. A subset of parents refused to complete the gender-specific questionnaire, potentially introducing selection bias.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by NIH grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of parent-reported gender diversity in most domains as evidence that autistic children do not experience it. The study found that parent and child reports were uncorrelated, and children self-reported significantly more diversity than parents detected. Relying on parent report alone may lead to under-identification.