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. 2022 Aug;52(8):3413-3426.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-05221-3. Epub 2021 Aug 3.

Camouflaging Intent, First Impressions, and Age of ASC Diagnosis in Autistic Men and Women

Hannah L Belcher  1   2 , Sharon Morein-Zamir  3 , Will Mandy  4 , Ruth M Ford  3
Affiliations

Camouflaging Intent, First Impressions, and Age of ASC Diagnosis in Autistic Men and Women

Hannah L Belcher et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Camouflaging of autistic traits may make autism harder to diagnose. The current study evaluated the relations between camouflaging intent, first impressions, and age of autism diagnosis. Participants comprised autistic and non-autistic adults (n = 80, 50% female) who completed the Camouflaging of Autistic Traits Questionnaire. They were later video-recorded having a conversation with a person unaware of their diagnostic status. Ten-second clips from half these videos were later shown to 127 non-autistic peers, who rated their first impressions of each participant. Results showed that autistic participants were rated more poorly on first impressions, males were rated less favourably than females, and male raters were particularly harsh in their evaluations of autistic males. Camouflaging intent did not predict first impressions but better first impressions were linked with a later age of diagnosis.

Keywords: Autism; Camouflaging; Female autism phenotype; First impressions; Gender differences; Masking.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean first-impression scores, with SD bars, for each group as a function of raters’ gender
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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