Abstract
Research shows elevated gender variance among autistic people and more autistic traits among gender diverse people, each of which is related to mental health concerns. Little work has explored broad features of these presentations in a non-clinical sample. College students (n = 174) ages 18–22 years completed questionnaires assessing the broader autism phenotype (BAP), autistic features, nonconformity to gender norms, and internalizing symptoms. Those with more BAP features or autistic communication reported more nonconformity to gender norms. Higher levels of internalizing symptoms were related to more gender nonconformity, BAP, and autistic features. Gender nonconformity marginally moderated the effect of BAP on depression but not anxiety. The BAP, autistic features, and gender nonconformity are important in understanding mental well-being.
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Notes
Gender dysphoria is an understandable discomfort or distress that is caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and their sex assigned at birth, the associated gender role, and/or primary and secondary sex characteristics (APA, 2013).
The terms Broader Autism Phenotype and Broad Autism Phenotype have been used in the literature and are synonymous.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Marquette Autism Project research team without whose efforts this work would not be possible. HKS would also like to acknowledge the funding support of the Rev. John P. Raynor, S. J. Fellowship at Marquette University (2020–2021). The authors would also like to extend gratitude to Dr. Lauren Yadlowsky for her guidance on selecting measure of identity for the present study, and Dr. Ed de St. Aubin for creating and sharing the MMGC with us.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were conducted by Hillary K. Schiltz. Data entry and management was supervised by Elyse Adler. Data analyses and interpretation were performed by Hillary K. Schiltz. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hillary K. Schiltz, Alana J. McVey, and Ilana Seager van Dyk, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Schiltz, H.K., McVey, A.J., van Dyk, I.S. et al. Brief Report: Links Between Nonconformity to Gender Norms, Autistic Features, and Internalizing Symptoms in a Non-clinical College Sample. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 1717–1725 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05033-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05033-5