Sex differences in predictors and outcomes of camouflaging: Comparing diagnosed autistic, high autistic trait and low autistic trait young adults.

The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that camouflaging causes poorer quality of life or that loneliness causes camouflaging. Sex was recorded only as male or female, so gender identity was not considered. The groups were uneven in size, which may have reduced power to detect some differences. Most measures were self-report, and camouflaging was assessed only by reported strategy use, not how successful strategies were. Cognitive ability was not measured, and online recruitment may have favoured people with average or above average cognitive ability. Mental health data were excluded because the collection format was unreliable. Some comparison participants were recruited by convenience sampling, so representativeness is limited. An earlier longer version of the camouflaging questionnaire was used, not the later shorter version.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding came from a grant supporting the Social Relationships Study.

Do not conclude that autistic females camouflage more than autistic males in general. The sex difference was significant only among diagnosed participants; it was not significant in the high-trait or comparison groups.