Abstract
Purpose: Increasing clinical evidence suggests an overrepresentation of gender variance (GV) among patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This retrospective chart review aims to contribute to the existing literature on co-occurring ASD and gender dysphoria (GD). We compare the rate of parent-reported GV in patients with an ASD diagnosis to that of parent-reported GV in a normative nonreferred data set.Methods: Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) charts were collected from 492 children and adolescents (409 natal males and 83 natal females) aged 6–18 years who have received a diagnosis of ASD at the New York University Child Study Center. Parent-reported GV was determined through endorsement of CBCL sex item 110, which assesses the presence of gender-related issues. We calculated the odds ratio of endorsement of item 110 between our ASD sample and the CBCL sample data.Results: The subjects diagnosed with ASD were 7.76 times more likely to report GV than the CBCL sample. This finding was statistically significant. About 5.1% of the patients in the ASD group and 0.7% of the CBCL nonreferred group endorsed sex item 110. 5.1% of natal males and 4.8% of natal females endorsed sex item 110. Neither gender nor age influenced the rate of endorsement.Conclusion: This finding supports the growing research suggesting a heightened co-occurrence rate of ASD and GD. Focus should be placed upon improving our understanding of the nature of this co-occurrence and on gender identity development within the atypical development of ASD.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a set of neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by impairments in social communication skills and repetitive and restricted interests and behaviors.[1]
Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were collected from all patients who were between ages 6 and 18 years and had received formal diagnoses of ASDs (i.e., ASD, Asperger’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders, and all associated not otherwise specified [NOS] diagnoses) between January 2011 and January 2015 at the New York University (NYU) Child Study Center in midtown Manhattan, New York City
Odds ratio was calculated between our ASD group and the nonreferred sample from CBCL nonreferred normative data
Summary
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a set of neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by impairments in social communication skills and repetitive and restricted interests and behaviors.[1]. GD is a DSM-5 diagnosis characterized by distress caused by a persistent incongruence between one’s natal sex and expressed gender,[1] and GV is a broader term that describes any numbers of variability between assigned sex and experienced/expressed gender. An increasing number of researchers and practitioners have noticed a high rate of co-occurrence between GD and/ or GV and ASDs. Many case studies have suggested an overrepresentation of GD among clients with ASDs and vice versa.[5,6,7,8] De Vries et al.[4] systematically measured this overrepresentation in a large-scale Dutch-based a Aron Janssen et al 2016; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Many case studies have suggested an overrepresentation of GD among clients with ASDs and vice versa.[5,6,7,8] De Vries et al.[4] systematically measured this overrepresentation in a large-scale Dutch-based a Aron Janssen et al 2016; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc
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