Abstract
Gender nonconformity is substantially elevated in the autistic population, but the reasons for this are currently unclear. In a recent study, Kallitsounaki and Williams (Kallitsounaki and Williams, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2020; authors 1 and 2 of the current paper) found significant relations between autistic traits and both gender dysphoric feelings and recalled cross-gender behaviour, and between mentalising ability and gender dysphoric feelings. The current study successfully replicated these findings (results were supplemented with Bayesian analyses), in sample of 126 adults. Furthermore, it extended the previous finding of the role of mentalising in the relation between autistic traits and gender dysphoric feelings, by showing that mentalising fully mediated this link. Results provide a potential partial explanation for the increased rate of gender nonconformity in the autistic population.
Highlights
In recent years, evidence has accumulated for an overrepresentation of gender nonconformity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Kallitsounaki and Williams investigated the relation between autistic traits, current gender dysphoric feelings, and recalled cross-gender behaviour among cisgender individuals
A series of Pearson r correlations was conducted to investigate the relations between autistic traits, mentalising, current gender dysphoric feeling, and recalled childhood crossgender behaviour
Summary
Evidence has accumulated for an overrepresentation of gender nonconformity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has shown that autistic adults present significantly more gender dysphoric feelings than people from the general population (George and Stokes 2018), are more likely to express the wish to be the gender opposite to their biological sex/birth-assigned gender (van der Miesen et al 2018), and to report gender. Kallitsounaki and Williams investigated the relation between autistic traits (using the Autism-spectrum Quotient; Baron-Cohen et al 2001b), current gender dysphoric feelings (using the Gender Identity/ Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire; Deogracias et al 2007), and recalled cross-gender behaviour (using the Recalled Childhood Gender Identity/Gender Role Questionnaire; Zucker et al 2006) among cisgender individuals (i.e., people whose gender identity corresponds with their biological sex/birth-assigned gender). Kallitsounaki and Williams examined the role of mentalising
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