Masking, social context and perceived stress in autistic adults: An ecological momentary assessment study.
Anke M Scheeren, Smiddy Nieuwenhuis, Laura Crane and 2 others
PMID 40635406WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults reported masking less when alone and less around autistic adults than around non-autistic or mixed groups.
They also reported higher stress when they masked more in the same 4 hours.
Key findings
01Masking was lower when participants were alone (16.05%) than when they were with others (36.07%).
02Masking was higher in the company of non-autistic or mixed groups (39.60%) than in the company of autistic adults (20.39%).
03More masking was associated with higher perceived stress scores, explaining 32% of variance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Masking was measured with one item about being oneself, so it may not capture autism masking specifically. Most participants were diagnosed in adulthood (87%) and many had higher education (55%), and the sample came from an autism register and an app trial, so it may not represent autistic adults with lower education, no digital access, or different diagnoses. The study is observational and measured masking and stress at the same time, so it cannot show that masking causes stress or that reducing masking would reduce stress. The analysis of masking around autistic adults only included 35 participants, so that finding is less stable than the main analyses. The authors note that stress may also lead to more masking, and that positive effects of masking were not measured.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) under grant AUT.17.006. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing masking will reduce stress. The study measured masking and stress at the same time, did not test an intervention, and day-to-day masking did not predict stress 4 hours later. The authors also note the link may be bidirectional.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →