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. 2019 May;49(5):1899-1911.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-03878-x.

Understanding the Reasons, Contexts and Costs of Camouflaging for Autistic Adults

Eilidh Cage  1 , Zoe Troxell-Whitman  2
Affiliations

Understanding the Reasons, Contexts and Costs of Camouflaging for Autistic Adults

Eilidh Cage et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2019 May.

Abstract

Camouflaging entails 'masking' in or 'passing' social situations. Research suggests camouflaging behaviours are common in autistic people, and may negatively impact mental health. To enhance understanding of camouflaging, this study examined reasons, contexts and costs of camouflaging. 262 autistic people completed measures of camouflaging behaviours, camouflaging contexts (e.g. work vs. family), camouflaging reasons (e.g. to make friends) and mental health symptoms. Findings indicated a gender difference in reasons for camouflaging, with autistic women more likely to endorse "conventional" reasons (e.g. getting by in formal settings such as work). Both camouflaging highly across contexts and 'switching' between camouflaging in some contexts but not in others, related to poorer mental health. These findings have implications for understanding camouflaging in autistic adults.

Keywords: Autistic adults; Camouflaging; Gender differences; Mental health; Wellbeing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Depression, Anxiety and Stress scores for each camouflage group. **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05. Note Error bars +/− 2SE
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean ratings for conventional and relational reasons for males and females. *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001. Note Error bars +/− 2SE
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Mean ratings for conventional and relational reasons for age of diagnosis groups. ***p < 0.001. Note: Error bars +/− 2SE
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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