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Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

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30-07-2018 | Brief Report

Brief Report: Gender Identity Differences in Autistic Adults: Associations with Perceptual and Socio-cognitive Profiles

Auteurs: Reubs J. Walsh, Lydia Krabbendam, Jeroen Dewinter, Sander Begeer

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 12/2018

Abstract

Prior research has shown an elevation in autism traits and diagnoses in individuals seen for gender related consultation and in participants self-identifying as transgender. To investigate this relationship between autism and gender identity from a new angle, we compared the self-reported autism traits and sensory differences between participants with autism who did or did not identify with their assigned sex (i.e. cisgender or trans and non-binary, respectively). We found broad elevation of most cognitive autism traits in the trans and non-binary group (those who identified with a gender other than their assigned gender), and lower visual and auditory hypersensitivity. We contrast these data to existing hypotheses and propose a role for autistic resistance to social conditioning.

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Kuyper and Wijsen (2014) used the terms “ambivalent” and “incongruent”. We interpret both of these for inclusion in comparison to our trans participants, and “ambivalent” (defined as equal or greater identification with the sex not assigned at birth than the sex assigned at birth) for inclusion in comparison to our nonbinary participants.

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Titel: Brief Report: Gender Identity Differences in Autistic Adults: Associations with Perceptual and Socio-cognitive Profiles
Auteurs: Reubs J. Walsh
Lydia Krabbendam
Jeroen Dewinter
Sander Begeer
Publicatiedatum: 30-07-2018
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 12/2018
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3702-y

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