The relationship between camouflaging and mental health: Are there differences among subgroups in autistic adults?
Wikke J van der Putten, Audrey Jj Mol, Tulsi A Radhoe and 4 others
PMID 37497845WHAT IT FOUND
Camouflaging correlates with mental health struggles in autistic adults, but this link is strong only for those with high negative affect.
For most, the association is weak or non-existent. Sex, age, and education did not predict the strength of this relationship.
Key findings
01Overall, there is a positive correlation between camouflaging and self-reported mental health difficulties.
02Subgroup analysis revealed that negative affect was the primary driver of differences in the camouflaging-mental health association, not sex, age, or education.
03A strong association between camouflaging and mental health was found only in a specific subgroup (10% of participants) characterized by high negative affect.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether camouflaging causes mental health difficulties or if people with mental health difficulties camouflaging more. Participants were mostly White and had middle-to-high educational levels, limiting generalizability to more diverse populations or those with intellectual disabilities. The subgroups identified were not pre-defined and require replication in independent samples to confirm their validity. Cognitive ability was estimated using educational level, which may not accurately reflect cognitive capacity.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that camouflaging harms the mental health of all autistic adults. The strong negative association was found only in a small subgroup (10%) with high negative affect. For most participants, the link was weak or non-existent, and for those with the highest distress, camouflaging was not the primary factor associated with their mental health difficulties.